Novi Education Forum Seeks to Answer Your Questions

Teachers, administrators and politicians will come together Monday in Novi to answer the question of what Michigan's responsibility is toward educating its population. 

The Novi Education Association is holding the education forum, moderated by WXYZ Channel 7 anchor JoAnne Purtan, 6:15 to 9 p.m. Monday in Novi Middle School's auditorium. 

"We really wanted to make sure we give the parents and the general community an opportunity to learn about the education reforms taking place in Michigan," said Seth Furlow, Novi Education Association's public relations chair and science teacher at Novi High School.

He said there was a similar forum in Ann Arbor a few weeks ago but many in Novi and neighboring districts thought important questions weren't addressed. A key part of this forum, called "A Parent's Guide to Education in Michigan," will be a question and answer session with the audience.

"They wanted to create their own forum to continue the conversation," he said.

The forum also aims to address the question of how Michigan schools should measure their performance. There are three main sessions:

• student performance/effective schools
• teacher recruitment/professional development/evaluation
• public finance of education

"One big one issue is the funding structure and how our tax dollars are used for education," Furlow said.

In the last couple of years, he said, funding from the state was transferred from education to help fund tax rates for corporations.

"There are more requirements in place for testing and accountability. We’re being continued to ask to do more and more without funding for these initiatives," he said.

Public school employees are also concerned about the Education Achievement Authority, which is the governing body for Michigan's failing schools, he said.

The Novi Education Association organized the forum in cooperation with Novi Community Schools, Farmington Public Schools and the education associations of Farmington, Livonia, Plymouth-Canton, South Lyon, Walled Lake and Waterford.

The forum will have several panelists including:

• Bill Rustem - representative of Governor Rick Snyder
• local school administrator and teacher
• state school board members - John Austin, Michelle Fecteau, Casandra Ulbrich, Eileen Weiser
• state legislators - Hugh Crawford, representative of Novi, and Ellen Cogen Lipton

Do you plan on attending the education forum? What questions do you want answered? Tell us in the comments.