Michigan Was Right to End Film Incentives

New report backs up legislators

By Jarrett Skorup | November 15, 2017

In 2015, Michigan legislators voted to wrap up the state’s film subsidy program – with the last dollar being paid out recently. This was nearly a decade after the program started and ultimately became the most generous in the nation, spending nearly half a billion dollars over time.

More than 40 states have film incentive programs, but a review of the evidence finds none of them return money to state treasuries. A few have joined Michigan in cutting back their programs, with Virginia the latest to reconsider the value of giving tax dollars for film production. A state report from Virginia auditors finds the incentives are a net loss for taxpayers and generate few economic benefits.

Proponents say subsidies for filmmaking are good for the economy, but enticing filmmakers to come to state comes at a substantial cost. The transfers move production from one state to another and set off a race to the bottom to see which state can be the most profligate. That’s what happened in Michigan: Film production picked up when the program was uncapped. But even with tens of millions of dollars spent in the final year of the program, Michigan had fewer film jobs than before the subsidies began.

A new study by Charles Swenson of the University of Southern California looks at the experience of many states.

This study finds that while movie production incentives were effective in increasing the number of film production employment and establishments for a few states such as New York and California from 1998 to 2011, there was no discernable increase across all states. Much of this noneffect appears because of a “crowding out” effect due to the sheer number of states with incentives.

In other words, jobs may increase in the short-term, but it’s tough to build an industry.

USA Today has developed a database of more than 5,000 projects that get incentives from states. Corporations behind virtually every major television show and movie try to get special benefits from taxpayers.

These projects are a drain on state budgets and do not justify their costs. It’s good that Michigan ended its program. Other states should follow.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.

Iron Mountain Schools Draws Flak for Novel Homeschool Co-op

'I don’t think it’s a fair way of doing it,' says neighboring superintendent

By Evan Carter | November 15, 2017

A school district near the Michigan-Wisconsin border in the Upper Peninsula is getting pushback over the structure and funding of a co-op it runs with some homeschool families in the area.

The resistance is coming from other schools in its area. The co-op offers virtual courses on subjects like Spanish, cooking and gymnastics, but also offers regular off-campus activities that allow local experts, who aren’t necessarily licensed teachers, to give hands-on instruction.

The homeschool co-op not only provides classes to homeschool families, but Iron Mountain also receives partial per pupil funding from the state for each student who takes an online course. It is currently working to reduce more than $427,000 in debt.

Allowing homeschool students to take noncore classes at public schools – subjects other than science, math, language arts and social studies classes – is not new for Michigan public schools. But the practice of offering regular off-campus activities that are connected to the class differs from what has typically been offered before.

Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said he sees these types of partnerships as a positive development that provides families a wider range of options to help children succeed.

“More and more Michigan parents are being drawn to these homeschool partnerships as a way to enhance their ability to customize their children’s learning,” DeGrow said. “Districts that embrace the partnership model get the opportunity to learn innovative approaches that help them serve all students better.”

Opponents of this type of homeschool co-op claim Iron Mountain is skirting the rules set up to govern programs offered by school districts to nontraditional students. Since the Iron Mountain school district offers off-campus activities connected to the classes during the school day, some opponents, like Craig Allen, superintendent of Breitung Township Schools, say the programs aren’t truly available to all students.

Allen said he isn’t opposed to public school co-ops with homeschool families in general. But he doesn’t agree with how Iron Mountain’s co-op is set up.

“This new-wave homeschool partnership is to offer classes for homeschool students and to offer classes in a segregated way. I don’t think it’s a fair way of doing it and traditionally not what shared time was about,” Allen said.

In an interview with Michigan Capitol Confidential, Iron Mountain Superintendent Raphael Rittenhouse defended his school district’s program, saying that conventional public school students can set up their schedules so they can attend the off-campus activities.

According to Rittenhouse, the real disagreement between his school district and the surrounding ones is Iron Mountain’s frequent use of off-campus activities, which he believes have made them popular with homeschool families.

Offering online courses or even allowing homeschool students to take noncore classes at their local public school is not uncommon.

“Everybody is using the same resources that are available to run school districts,” Rittenhouse said. “There’s nothing being done here in Iron Mountain that isn’t being done somewhere else. This is a question of scale.”

Emelie Fairchild has six children who range from kindergarten to high school in the co-op program, where she helps teach Spanish. Fairchild appreciates the extra hands-on learning experiences the co-op provides for her children, not only for the educational value but also because her children can make friends with other kids their age.

“My kids would probably tell you that, that is the most fun part of the class,” Fairchild said. “The [hands-on activities] are the bonus and that’s the most fun part of the class.”