You mentioned MESSA briefly... that's the next dragon that needs slaying here in this state.  That Hay Group report is pretty shocking if you look at it.  We're basically talking about a money grab by union bosses taking money straight out of the classroom.  

And on an order much larger than any cut even Jennifer Granholm's pushed since she was first elected.

The spin doctors in the drive by media will be whipping up a frenzy over this and trying to show the cuts as severly damaging. Our little darlings will be at risk - all over $34!

Your breakdown was an excellent example of facts and figures for those of us who don't pay attention to the "finer details" as we should.  When you do a comprehnsive step by step approach to what is really happening with this cut, you put the issue in perspective. Truth be told, the cut is minor.  

Counter challenges with real details as you've explained will go a long way for those trying to figure out what is real and what is not.

I can't understand why the Governor and her staff continue to want to pump 4K in scholarships to every kid in Michigan when no one is bothering to analyze and evaluate why post-secondary education costs are 2-3x the cost of inflation as a whole! Where is all the money going in this system (to teachers and administrators of course - not to the schools, the kids or the supply and maintenance system).

It's time we stopped throwing money into our school systems until we re-vamp what is wrong, curb current spending and cut out the fat before we toss millions more into a messed up system.

And as you said, it's definately time to take on the teachers unions (MEA) and MESSA. We are long over-due as a state in not taking a good, hard look at these groups who have been working to bleed the system dry. They need to take accountability as everyone else does.

The time is now.

Let's not forget....most of these school districts are complaining about starving while they have loaves of bread stuffed under their arms. Here is DB's story in the Freep on this:

Michigan public schools, including intermediate school districts and charter schools, had $1.7 billion in surplus cash in mid-2006, a lot of money for a system teetering on the brink of financial ruin, according to a Macomb County lawmaker who asked for the report on school reserves.

While you're correct about the funding mechanism, a $34 cut is still a $34 cut. The source from which the cut comes does not make it more substantive than if it were to have come from another.

Let's say, hypothetically, that I have 2 jobs and I make $200 a week. Job #1 cuts my pay by $34 a week while my pay at Job #2 remains constant. I now make $166 a week.

Now lets say that Job #2 cuts my pay by $34 while Job #1 remains constant. What's my weekly paycheck now? Oh, it's still $166.

No matter what, I still have $34 fewer dollars than I did before.

And, in the broader context, I still make more than 10% more than the national average. And my healthcare unnecessarily costs 10% more than other employees with similar coverage because my union takes a slice of my insurance premium. And I still sacrfice a relatively high percentage of my revenue to administrative costs.

Maybe I should address those problems.

The proposal entails providing a personal income tax credit for the health care coverage of a new business owner and their immediate family for the first two years; making research and development tax credits transferable; allowing for an income tax credit for any personal income used to start up a new business..."

Looks like it's not just a Republican pony.  Meisner might be the most liberal member in the House and he understands that lower taxes are good and higher taxes are bad.

The governor understands this too.  Every deal she's ever announced, all of those jobs she "went anywhere" to track down, they all came to Michigan because of giant tax breaks and incentives.  

Tax breaks and incentives she's trumpeted from the walls of the city every chance she's had.  

If you want less of something, tax it.

Tax service industry jobs, lose 19,000 of them.  Tax cash-strapped residents who are just barely hanging on as it is?  Increase out-migration.  

These aren't "Republican" ideas.  It's economics.  Kennedy understood it.  Reagan understood it.  Bush understood it.  And I'm sure you've got tons of problems with the President but one thing you can't argue, the national economy is going like gangbusters since the tax cut in 2001.  Over 3 MILLION new jobs while Michigan has lost over 100,000.  The ONLY state in the union to have lost jobs over the last four years.

But other states aren't just standing still.  They're sharpening their game, heightening their appeal.  

It's a dynamic marketplace.  

And from 2002 through 2006 national employment rose by over 3 million.  It continues to grow.  BLS reports that another 97,000 non farming jobs were created nationally just this past February (the last month for which numbers are available).  Meanwhile, Michigan lost 24,000 between December and January (again, last available).

That's why every business that comes to Michigan, every job that Granholm shouts and sings about creating and every job Andy Meisner hopes to attract with his new legislation are predicated on tax cuts and incentives.

Because they don't work.