Michigan voters to decide between gubernatorial candidates taking opposing views on school choice

Both candidates for Michigan governor have been highly vocal on education – but their views on school choice could hardly be any more different. 

Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer and GOP nominee Tudor Dixon face off on Nov. 8.

Whitmer stands strongly against school choice. For example, she opposes the “Let MI Kids Learn” campaign, a ballot measure backed by former U.S. Education Secretary and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos.

The measure aims to create the Student Opportunity Scholarship Program, which would help pay tuition and fees in K-12 public or private schools and cover homeschooling materials, as well as allow students with a financial need to access online learning programs.

“Our schools cannot provide the high-quality education our kids deserve if we turn private schools into tax shelters for the wealthy,” Whitmer claimed in a letter last November, when she blocked several school voucher bills.  

She also argued the Let MI Kids Learn campaign violates the Michigan Constitution and the 1970 Blaine Amendment, which prohibits public dollars from going toward private schools – though that argument is now on shaky ground after the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Carson v. Makin. 

The high court ruled that Maine’s express exclusion of religious schools from state tuition subsidies violated the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment. 

Whitmer’s opponent, Dixon, supports the school choice effort, in addition to campaigning on parental rights, curbing radical curricula in schools and protecting fairness in girls’ sports.  

Recent proposals from Dixon’s campaign have focused on removing pornographic materials from schools, barring transgender girls from participating in school sports on teams opposite of their biological sex, and preventing educators from teaching young students about gender and sexuality. 

“What Tudor wants to accomplish is very simple and common sense,” Dixon spokesperson Sara Broadwater said earlier this month. “She wants to get radical sex and gender theory out of our schools, remove classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity for grades K-3, make sure gender-specific sports remain gender-specific, given biological differences in boys versus girls, and post all curriculum online for parents to see and be involved in their child’s education. Every child deserves a world-class education, and parents should be in charge of it.”  

All four of Dixon’s children attend private schools, and expanding access to private schools for more families is a high priority for her. 

“The state should allow educational freedom that would allow parents to not be stuck and not be beholden to a broken system,” she said. “We need to start funding the students, not funding the system.”  

Dixon also believes parental rights are essential in education, supporting policies to require schools to be more transparent about their curricula.  

Dixon and Whitmer will debate on Tuesday, one last time before the Nov. 8 election, at Oakland University in Rochester at 7 p.m. EDT.