Michigan Policy Wonk

Problems

• Governors across the U.S. face tough choices as Covid-19 takes its toll on state budgets Michigan can’t count on the federal government for rescue, Republican Sen. Wayne Schmidt told the Los Angeles Times. Schmidt is a Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) graduate. MPLP is an IPPSR program.
• 50 Million Kids Can’t Attend School. What Happens to Them? The New York Times’ Editorial Board suggests that younger pupils will need help catching up, and mentions IPPSR’s newly created database of schools’ responses in the wake of the coronavirus. The database research found that schools were caught off-guard by the need for distance learning, the Editorial Board concluded.
• Coronavirus guts Michigan college budgets. And it’s going to get worse Bridge Magazine warns that the coronavirus has put Michigan colleges and universities in “dire” straits and that some of them may not survive. It quotes Dan Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, who has been a presenter at IPPSR’s Legislative Leadership Program.

Policy

• Gates Foundation's Tactics to Remake Public Education During Pandemic Are UndemocraticThe Chronicle of Philanthropy cites IPPSR Affiliate Faculty Member Sarah Reckhow, associate professor in MSU’s Department of Political Science, for work on how foundations can influence government decisionmaking.
• States all over the map on the rigors of remote learning Schools across the country vary in remote learning strategies as they map teaching plans in the face of the novel coronavirus, notes Education Week in drawing from a new national database of schools COVID-19 response. The database was compiled by IPPSR and MSU’s Education Policy Innovation Center (EPIC.)
• Armed militia helped a Michigan barbershop open, a coronavirus defiance that puts Republican lawmakers in a bind Rep. Mark Huizenga, a Republican from west Michigan, is quoted in this Washington Post story about a gubernatorial order to close barberships as a way to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Politics

• Michigan voters to receive application to vote by mail for August, November elections Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has announced every registered voter will receive an application to vote by mail for the August and November elections to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 exposure. She’s a graduate of IPPSR’s Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP).
• Here’s what’s fueling state Capitol protesters to keep showing up Fringe groups and a sense of frustration over lost jobs and coronavirus-caused isolation at home are driving protests at the  Michigan Capitol, says Susy Avery, former Republican Party chair and MPLP co-director.
• Former state Sen. Morris Hood dies of coronavirus complications. He was 54 Sen. Sylvia Santana, an MPLP graduate, shares memories of Sen. Morris Hood III who died due to complications of coronavirus.