As published in the Northern Express on November 9, 2019

When the time came to send our children to school in the Metro Detroit suburbs 20+ years ago, my husband and I were excited to try the sparkling new public school a mile away. It had all the shiny bells and whistles, and it was located in a highly rated district. We were confident that both of our kids would fit in and do well.

For many reasons, the experience did not go as planned. Instead, over the years, our children ended up trying a combination of public schools, private schools, and best of all, home school.

Home-schooling might not be for everyone, but it is an excellent option for many children and families. Teaching our kids at home was a great experience for us and really fit our Libertarian lifestyle and philosophy.    

In 2016, 2.3 million children were home-schooled in the United States. This number is growing at about 5 percent per year. About 50,000 children are home-schooled in Michigan.

And according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), the choice is often a beneficial one: “The home-educated are typically above average, on measures of social, emotional, and psychological development.”

Academically, NHERI finds that home-school students consistently score 15 to 30 points above public school students on standardized academic achievement tests, regardless of their parents’ formal education or income.

While some might argue that the home-schooling community “skims from the top,” that is absolutely not true. In fact, those with children who have trouble learning in the public schools are the most attracted to homeschooling.

Well-meaning family and friends of home-schoolers often worry about “how the kids will be socialized.”  Yet research shows “home-schoolers do very well with peer interaction, self-concept, leadership skills, family cohesion, participation in community service, and self-esteem.”

The flexible nature of home-schooling allows children more time to develop both hobbies and relationships. Downstate, we belonged to a home-school group at our church, in addition to several groups for sports, music, and much more.

There are also many home-school church and social based groups throughout northern Michigan.
Friends of ours who run Flynn’s Orchard and Farm to Door Market in Mancelona find that home-schooling suits their family quite well. In addition to home school, their young children learn and apply real world skills helping their parents run their farmers market booth.

The family belongs to Purity Ring Family Theatre, which meets in Petoskey. The kids just tried out for Little House on the Prairie, to be performed in mid-April.

The flexibility that the Flynn family enjoys was a benefit for us, too. My children were motivated to finish their home-school work by lunch each day so that they could play outside, work on puzzles, music, or more. There were also many more opportunities for educational family trips and day outings.

Why did my family end up home-schooling when we initially intended to take the traditional public school route?

There were many reasons. At age 6, my normally well-behaved son was constantly getting into trouble for disrupting the class. He finished his work quickly but, like many six-year-olds, he felt the need to talk to others when he was bored. For this, the school wanted me to pursue having him labeled as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but we thought he was just a typical boy and didn’t want to put him on medication.

At the same time, several girls in my daughter’s second grade class were sexually abused by an older student on the playground. The administrators denied it, and they tried to make the parents of these girls look like lunatics.

At the time, I was on the PTO board and also a journalist. During my own investigation, I found out that the boy was found guilty of the sexual assault in criminal court, and that the school district had settled out of court for lots of money.

I was angry and appalled, so I helped write a front-page newspaper story calling on the school district to answer the questions that many parents were asking. Over the holiday break, reality set in. We realized that we could not send our children to a school where second graders were abused, and officials were dishonest about our kids’ safety.

We also realized that the public-school district administrators are accountable to no one. Of course, we had a school board, but members were encouraged to keep quiet at meetings until they attended school board classes and gained experience on the board.

Our family’s experience with the local public school was painful, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to us. Our daughter home-schooled for three years before attending a local Catholic school. Our son, on the other hand, home-schooled at least part time from third grade through high school. Both of them ended up with fully paid four-year college scholarships. More importantly, both of them are happy and thriving adults.

In summary, home-schooling was a great experience for our family, and more and more families are trying it all the time.

If you or your children are not happy with your local public or private school, why not home school?

As published in the Northern Express on February 8, 2020

For many reasons, lack of affordable housing has long been a big issue in Traverse City. The problem has now spread to the surrounding areas, such as my town of Mancelona. As a real estate broker who works with housing issues daily, I do not see this housing shortage improving soon. 

Lack of affordable housing obviously impacts families and their quality of life. In addition, many businesses are having a hard time hiring quality employees, partly because there is no place for their workers to live.

Our local leaders are attempting to solve this problem by creating more government regulations, such as restricting property rights for those who own vacation rental homes.

However, I strongly believe that the problem of affordable housing could be solved with FEWER regulations, particularly in relation to zoning and building restrictions. Many communities across the country are easing these restrictions or even eliminating them. Traverse City and surrounding communities should do the same, as studies show that these regulations artificially inflate the price of housing and therefore price many people out of the market.

“The cost of the regulations reduces the supply of homes, driving up the cost of existing homes that are on the market,” according to economists Edward L. Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko, who wrote a paper titled “The Impact of Zoning on Housing Affordability.”

“Those who can afford to buy will pay a higher cost. Others who can’t will do without and continue to rent or even become homeless,” agreed UCLA economist Matthew Kahn.

Unfortunately, current homeowners have an incentive to keep the system in place, because it benefits them as their own home values rise, said Kahn.

“If developers build too many homes, prices fall, and housing is many families’ main asset,” he said.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, housing consumes 30% of most Americans’ income. However, those in the lowest 20% income bracket are paying almost 40% of their income for housing.

Zoning regulations and urban renewal have greatly reduced low-cost opportunities for these people. These lost opportunities include boarding houses and residential hotels, where 30% or more of the urban population once found shelter.

In my town of Mancelona, investors are eager to renovate historic downtown buildings into active storefronts and return the upper floors of these same buildings into much-needed housing. They are also snatching up older homes in need of repair and improving them for rent or resale.

However, every attempt to renovate these buildings has required time, money and navigating a frustrating bureaucracy. Even after jumping through all the government hoops, an investor for bigger projects won’t know if he/she will be approved until after submitting expensive architectural plans.

In fact, one of my investor clients recently told me that he is giving up on future projects because of the frustrating red tape.

It is the frustration factor that causes zoning and building restrictions to benefit politically well-connected developers, who are often the only ones to get construction permits in such an environment.

Ironically, despite the harm these regulations inflict on the poor and disadvantaged, the nation’s most liberal cities tend to have the most restrictive zoning laws, according to Derek Thompson of The Atlantic, who wrote “Why Middle-Class Americans Can Not Afford to Live in Liberal Cities.”

Fortunately, these same communities across the country are now realizing the connection between zoning and lack of housing. Many laws have been enacted recently across the country to limit or eliminate zoning restrictions.

In 2018, Minneapolis became the first major U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning in an effort to increase housing supply and density, reduce housing costs and create more racially and economically integrated neighborhoods, according to Solomon Greene and Jorge González of the Urban Institute, who wrote a paper entitled “How Communities Are Rethinking Zoning to Improve Housing Affordability and Access to Opportunity.”

Other communities, such as Washington, D.C. are allowing homeowners to add secondary housing, or in-law units, on their properties. Seattle recently rezoned several single-family neighborhoods to allow smaller, denser multi-family housing that provides more affordable options.

Communities such as Pinellas County, Florida and Austin, Texas have expedited their review processes for building projects and will waive fees if the project involves dedicated affordable housing.

The history of the original regulations is complex. Some laws are national, such as the American Disabilities Act. Building codes are not only statewide, but also subject to local interpretation.

The idea behind zoning laws, which are usually local, is to restrict certain activity to specific locations so as not to interfere with other forms of activity. For example, areas of manufacturing are zoned industrial, which separate residential units from factories, because they do not mix well.

Regardless of where these regulations originated, or what the original intent was, most people in the real estate and building industries agree that there is now an overreach in many areas. Many zoning and building rules and regulations have done more harm than good.

It is time for the leaders of northern Michigan communities to seriously consider modifying their zoning regulations and building restrictions in order to facilitate more affordable housing options.

Citizens Who Want to Vote on the Antrim County Jail have been preparing a list of questions which we hope will be addressed by either the Commissioners or Consultants at the March 19^th meeting to be held at the at Kearney Township Hall, 4820 Aero Park Drive in Bellaire. The Board of Commissioners’ regular meeting is from 5:00 to 7:00. At 7:00, there will be a presentation from Byce and Associates.

It is important that citizens attend this meeting if at all possible. The consultants will explain the various options being considered for the Antrim County facilities, including the jail. These plans will cost Antrim County taxpayers between $40 to $76 million. 

Below is a list of our questions, which are regarding: 1. the decision making process; 2. the building process; 3. bed space; 4. budget.

We will be modifying this story after input from all citizens, and emailing the Commissioners and Consultants this link. 

DECISION MAKING PROCESS
How many public hearings do you anticipate will follow this informational meeting before a decision is made?

Will the public get the chance to vote on this project? 

Were all the criminal justice stakeholders (judges, prosecutor, law enforcement, probation and parole officers, defense attorneys, etc.) convened and interviewed as part of the jail planning process?

Were Community Mental Health experts interviewed as part of the jail projection planning process?

Was the Department of Corrections Jail Division included in the planning process?

Was the Jail and Pre-Trial Diversion Joint Task Force consulted?

Was the National Institute of Corrections Jail Division or Community Corrections Division consulted?

What jail inmate classification related data was accessed?

BUILDING PROCESS
Why is the new campus being proposed in an area where other buildings are known to have water issues? 

Are there records anywhere confirming that a second story can not be added to the current jail? If so, where are these records? If not, can a structural engineer be hired?

Have there been any builder estimates to renovate the current jail?

BED SPACE
Can you please provide a list of all the data used to project the need for a 75 bed jail?

Given the fact that (historically) the current jail houses a bare minimum number of juvenile and female inmates, how were the number of jail bed spaces determined to be needed arrived at?

Minimum security jail space is different than maximum security space. What percentage and number of your 75-bed proposed jail are minimum security vs maximum security?

What type of space would be used for pre-trial detainees and what percentage of the total 75 bed projected jail would be dedicated that type of space?

Was the use of diversion programs calculated in order to arrive at the 75-bed projection?

BUDGET
Has there been an analysis of funding sources? 

Has there been any analysis of how much the operating costs of the new jail will increase?

Will the Sheriff commit to reducing his operating expenses due to efficiencies supposedly built into the new jail? Other communities have reduced it by 35%.

Will there be any money set aside so that all of these facilities are properly maintained in the future?

When comparing various options, has there been any analysis on current and future property taxes collected by the county for the various properties they might sell?

Has there been any analysis on the impact this project will have on county taxpayers now and in the future? How much of the project is the County allowed to do without voter approval?

Have any business owners approached the Commissioners about buying the current buildings? If so, how will the value be determined?

Click here for information about the March 19^th meeting. 

Click here to see the group “Citizens Who Want a Vote on the Antrim County Jail.”