PODCAST: New Report Indicts Michigan’s Inadequate School Funding, Plus DIA Campus To Be Redesigned

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Greetings from Detroit, which today looks like a snowglobe-turned-dismal outdoor slushie amid a brief thaw.

On today’s show, we discuss a new report from the Michigan State University College of Education that finds tht funding for Michigan’s public schools has dropped more severely than in any other state over the past quarter-century. We’re now dead last among states for total education revenue growth.

The report deliberately looks at the effects of Proposal A, the 1994 state law that drastically changed public education funding in Michigan. It shifted funding from local property taxes to state property taxes, limiting the ability of local residents to determine funding levels for their own local schools.

We had an in-depth interview last year about Michigan’s K-12 woes with Ron French of Bridge magazine. You can listen to it here.

Elsewhere, we discuss a new initiative to redesign the streets around the Detroit Institute of Arts. The public is invited to come to the DIA and provide their feedback on plans offered by three different firms.

Also covered today:

  • Peppa Pig’s World of Play is coming to the Detroit area
  • Eminem is starring in a virtual-reality documentary set in Detroit
  • And the restaurant and winery chain Cooper’s Hawk is eyeing Troy as the location of its second restaurant in Michigan.

And finally, our interview feature is with Detroit entrepreneur Jennyfer Crawford about her new venture. The founder of the popular All Things Detroit market has launched All Things Ticketing. Her aim is to make throwing an event simpler.