The system, which is shuttering schools and laying off teachers, also has suffered from recent financial scandals, including millions of dollars in inappropriate wire transfers allegedly sent from a district office. The money woes leave school buildings in disrepair and many students without books to take home for study.

"It's time to earn back the parents' trust," said Michigan Sen. Wayne Kuipers, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education. "The way you do that is make sure you are running an ethical administration."

Turns out most parents would prefer text books for their kids rather than overlapping positions in the DPS administration.  Things like paper and pencils also rank awfully high on the list.  

How these pretty basic priorities seem to get lost between local communities and Lansing is still a little beyond me.  Suppose when you couch it in floury words and tell people the reason their kids don't have books is because of mean Republicans instead of inefficient local administration that could have something to do with it.  At least with DPS parents finally seem more than fed up and ready to demand accountability.  More and more they're voting with their feet and pulling their kids out of the district.

Meanwhile, a little bit further up the regional food chain Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano is rooting out some savings himself.  The FREEP reports that he's ready to pick up the County operations and move them to a new office complex to avoid paying excessive rent to his current landlord.  

In a normal commercial office building, tenants pay rent based on the square footage of their space plus a small add-on, usually around 13%, for common-area upkeep. In the current downtown office market, the rental rate for an older building is about $15 per square foot, including expenses, and perhaps $20 or a little higher in newer Class A buildings...

If all... ceremonial spaces are included, the county is paying about $22 a square foot; if only the office space itself and the normal common-area charge are used, the county is paying around $40 per square foot.

Either way, the county's rent is well above the going market rate, said Steve Morris, executive managing director of the Farmington Hills-based Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate consulting firm.

The current building has plenty of historic value, sure, but gouging a tenant is gouging a tenant.  Think Ficano would kill for the $1 a year lease the Michigan State Police are ready to burn by moving into a new headquarters that'll cost taxpayers $5 million?  Something tells me he'd jump at that chance.  

How these pretty basic priorities seem to get lost between local communities and Lansing is still a little beyond me.  Suppose when you couch it in floury words and tell people the reason you're laying off police and firefighters is because of mean Republicans instead of inefficient money burned paying excessive rent that could have something to do with it.  At least the VERY democrat Wayne County Executive seems more than fed up and ready to make root out inefficiencies in even the most unlikely places.  Moving 500 employees and the county's operations will be no small feat, but it might be the right one.

So do you suppose maybe the problem is on an entirely different level?  Lets head to Lansing, now, shall we?  Spurred on by the governor to take action before any vacation time the Michigan House and Senate have taken two very different approaches these last few days.  The Senate passed public employee retiree reforms, started moving healthcare reforms and yesterday passed school calendar consolidation.  The House... well... hmm.  They held some hearings and want to let you put docks at the end of lake roads.

Then again, the Democrats control the House and the Democrats continue to obstruct progress in the Senate.  Maybe that's where the problem lies?  Senate Dems already blocked the MESSA kill this week and yesterday they did their best to prevent local school districts from sharing resources, pooling services and saving cash.  The Associated Press reports:

Don Wotruba, lobbyist for the Michigan Association of School Boards... said schools have to offer more classes now because of new state high school graduation requirements. So districts are looking to join with other area districts to offer electives along with vocational and special education programs.

A common calendar for every school in an ISD would help districts share classes, Wotruba said, because there no longer would be back-to-back weeks of students on different breaks.

A shared calendar would also allow districts to pool more efficiently for items such as busing and janitorial services.  Local school boards seem to understand the power of pooling and increased efficiency.  How does that get lost on its way to Lansing?  

Well, it doesn't.  Conservatives are moving on these items.  The left continues to block them and refuses to offer up solutions of their own.  There's yet to be a vote on a tax increase in the House despite the governor's insistence that "new revenues" be the cornerstone of any budget fix.  But the Dems continue to blather on and on incessantly about how necessary a massive tax hike is and about how we've cut to the bone.  Democrats locally don't believe that.  Why do they buy it in Lansing?