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The new Education Achievement Authority tasked with raising the standards of under performing schools in Detroit and Michigan’s met for the first time today, just a week after its board members were named to their jobs.

Meetings of the EAA’s board, and its executive committee, are being live streamed here.

The EAA is headed by Roy C. Roberts, a former General Motors executive who was appointed as Emergency Manager of the Detroit Public Schools this spring.

Today, Roberts tweeted a photo of the new board and said,

“This group represents some of the best minds this state has to offer coming together to envision a different path for schools that need support and greater autonomy. I earnestly look forward to this Board addressing the key policy questions as we begin to work to build a new system of schools for children and families.”

The EAA is part of  Gov. Rick Snyder’s push for school reform in Michigan, and the reform effort is gaining national attention.

The new board members include a cross section of educational experts and community leaders from across Detroit, Southeastern Michigan and the state.Two board members were selected by Eastern Michigan University, one of the nation’s leading schools for training teachers.

The EAA will have the authority to oversee 45 schools in Detroit next year, if their standards cannot be improved. Eventually, it could oversee 100 of the worst performing schools in the state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three must-read stories about the Midwest economy.

Obama in Western Michigan: President Obama visits Holland, Mich., today to tour a Johnson Controls plant that produces lithium-ion batteries, and discuss advanced auto industry technology. It’s his seventh visit to Michigan since taking office, and second talk about fuel economy this week.

But some critics say he should be keeping his focus on jobs. Our Changing Gears partner Michigan Radio has a roundup of the discussion of the President’s trip to western Michigan, including a commentary from the Grand Rapids Press. It asks whether incentives to fund future techology are really worth the money, given what’s happening with the economy.

Lake Michigan Only Gets A Passing Grade: Illinois Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk gives Lake Michigan a “C” when it comes to cleanliness and other environmental concerns, reports our partner station WBEZ in Chicago.

Kirk, who co-chairs the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, said water levels are decreasing, so he wants to pass a bill that would maintain and dredge harbors. (Changing Gears’ Kate Davidson reported on Great Lakes dredging earlier this summer.) He also called for increased voltage at electric barriers to keep out Asian carp, and a ban on sewage dumping in the Great Lakes.

More Jeep Jobs in Toledo? The Toledo Blade is reporting that Chrysler will invest up to $365 million and add another shift of 1,100 workers at its Jeep plant there. The deal depends on an incentive package from Ohio, which state officials have yet to approve.

 

 

 

Over at PBS NewsHour, there’s have extensive coverage of yesterday’s Wisconsin recall elections. Patchwork Nation has broken down the numbers, and has spotted two big trends.

1) Counties where public employees live are shifting away from supporting Republicans. That’s because Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, has led the drive to weaken collective bargaining rights. Says Patchwork: “If Democrats can win bigger portions of the electorate in those counties in 2012, it would greatly increase their chances for success.”

2) Monied suburbs around Milwaukee may be tilting even more sharply to Republican candidates. According to Patchwork, “It may be that the Monied Burbs are the kinds of places where GOP efforts to strike at public sector unions could win voters. There are many well-paid private sector employers here. Many of them have seen a lot of cuts in benefits over the past decade and they may not be pleased with the benefits public sector workers receive.”

Patchwork’s conclusion is that change may be in the air, both for Wisconsin, and for the nation in 2012. And those changes could certainly be felt in our region.

 

Throughout September, the Changing Gears team will be looking at the future of manufacturing. It’s still a vibrant part of our region, but today’s factories may not be the same as the ones your dad, grandfather and even you worked in.

We’d like to get your thoughts on the future of manufacturing. Is it dying? Is it changing? What is the role that our states can play?

Take our survey, and share your own stories of working in manufacturing. We’d love to feature you on Changing Gears. Thanks.

Detroit lost nearly a quarter of its population during the 2010 census, and entire neighborhoods sit empty. But a determined group of people are not giving up on the city.

One of them is Charlie Cavell, a Wayne State University student, who has taken on education as his primary cause. Cavell, 20, was profiled on NPR’s All Things Considered Tuesday evening, for his efforts to help launch a new charter school and his non-profit, the Pay It Forward Initiative.

Pay It Forward helps provide jobs for inner city kids, while Cavell, who grew up in Manchester, Michigan, is now a board member at the new charter school that will take the place of Loving Elementary on Detroit’s east side.

Says Cavell: “Rough times for some people, but I’m hoping to do what I can to fix that.”

 

Today’s must-read stories about the Midwest economy.

More Jobs in Chicago: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and JP Morgan Chase announced the opening of four new Chase bank branches in the city yesterday, a move that will create more than 400 jobs. Chase now has the most bank deposits of any financial institution in the city. 

Meanwhile, Crain’s Chicago Business reports today that Starbucks and Caribou Coffee are both expanding in the city. Each coffee company expects to open dozens more stores in the area over the next few years. It would be the first expansion in Chicago for Starbucks since 2008, when the company closed 600 stores nationwide.

Michigan Venture Accelerator Gains Companies: Three new companies have moved into the University of Michigan’s Venture Accelerator, which provides space, services and mentoring for emerging startups.

The accelerator now is 60 percent full after just seven months in operation, and could be at capacity by the end of the year. The project occupies 16,000 square feet of space at the facilities once used by Pfizer on U-M’s North Campus.

Ohio School Bells to be Delayed?  An Ohio lawmaker is proposing to limit the state’s school year to the weeks between Labor Day and Memorial Day, in order to boost Ohio’s economy. The report comes from State Impact Ohio, a project of our partner station ideastream in Cleveland. Rep. Bill Hayes points to nearby states like Michigan that already have similar laws, and the economic success they’ve enjoyed.

According to a membership survey by the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association, tourism has increased by 25 percent annually since the state changed its school start days in 2006. Hayes says Ohio needs that kind of boost.

Republicans kept four state Senate seats, and retained control of state government, in hotly contested recall elections in Wisconsin yesterday.

The elections were triggered by the uproar over the state’s new collective bargaining law, which limits bargaining rights for state employees and requires them to pay more for benefits. Republicans hold a majority in the Senate and Assembly, while Wisconsin has a Republican governor, Scott Walker.

Now, attention moves to two Democratic state Senate seats, which will be the subject of recall elections next week. Tuesday’s races saw high turnouts in the six districts where voters mounted challenges to their representatives. Democrats needed to win three of the seats in order to have a majority in the state Senate, and the expensive races attracted national attention from political writers and labor unions.

So far more than $35 million has been spent on the recall races, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks political money, the Journal-Sentinel said. The spending on the nine races dwarfs the $19.3 million spent in last year’s 115 legislative races, and approaches the $37.4 million spent in the race for governor.

Many analysts see the elections as a precursor of a statewide bid to recall Walker, which could take place in 2012.

The two Democratic victories mean that Republicans now hold just a 17-16 lead in the state Senate. But for Republican officials, that margin is still sufficient.

“I think it’s a huge victory for us,” said John Hogan, director of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate.

Democrats, however, said they were pleased by the two victories.

But Democrats claimed victory for the two seats they captured from Republicans.

“We went on their turf and we won on Republican turf,” said Mike Tate, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “We will not stop, we will not rest” until Walker is recalled.

 

 

 

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Voters go to the polls in six Wisconsin state senate districts today. They’re considering whether to recall Republican lawmakers who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s bid to restrict state workers’ collective bargaining rights.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that turnout is strong, while Wisconsin Public Radio says state officials have seen a big demand for absentee ballots. Two Democratic senators face recall elections next week.

According to the Journal-Sentinel, there’s been a flurry of activity at the polls in Whitefish Bay, which is represented by one of the Republican state senators.

Mordecai Lee, a political scientist and professor of governmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, says he voted at 8 a.m. at the Whitefish Bay Public Library. He was No. 237 when he voted in the 8th Senate District recall election between Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and challenger Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay).

“Voting was as heavy as a presidential election,” he wrote. “Nowhere to park, traffic jams, lines, etc. Amazing.”

The debate over Wisconsin’s new collective bargaining law sparked big protests in the state capitol earlier this year. The law, which limits state employee bargaining and requires them to pay more for benefits, took effect in June after a court challenge. Read Changing Gears’ coverage of Wisconsin’s collective bargaining law here.

Are you a Wisconsin voter? How do you feel about the recall effort?