Democratic majorities in Lansing will target public charter schools

(The Center Square) – Michigan Democrats and public school advocacy groups plan to regulate public charter schools among repealing the state’s third-grade reading law and other education…

(The Center Square) – Michigan Democrats and public school advocacy groups plan to regulate public charter schools among repealing the state’s third-grade reading law and other education changes.

Michigan Democrats will flex newly gained majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives when they take office in January. Among the party’s longstanding policy positions is to prioritize traditional public schools over public charter schools.

Public charter schools increased enrollment each year during the pandemic.

Robert McCann, Executive Director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan, said Michigan needs to “radically rethink” education policies, including the 2016 reading law that says third graders might repeat the grade if they are testing more than one grade level behind.

“Rather than getting them the help they need, we’re stigmatizing them and holding them back a grade level,” McCann said in a phone interview.

McCann said Michigan has recently witnessed an “explosion” of charter schools, which means “additional public school dollars being pulled out of our districts but also, at the same time, a rapid growth of charter schools that just aren’t performing.”

During the COVID pandemic, many parents chose alternative education, as some Michigan schools pivoted to remote learning and didn’t offer in-person instruction. Michigan charter schools educate about 10% of the state’s total students.

“We see this time and time again: charter schools run by for-profit companies or others who are looking at this as an investment opportunity rather than something designed to help students and ensure their success,” McCann said.

The dispute over education follows Michigan charter schools gaining a 2.14% increase, or 3,147 students, during the pandemic, according to a report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools that tracked enrollment between 2019 and 2022.

The report says Michigan charter schools added 2,139 students, a 1.45% increase, during the first two years of the pandemic, while traditional public school enrollment in the state fell by 3.7% or 48,318 students. In the third year impacted by the pandemic, Michigan’s charter schools added 1,008 students for an increase of 0.67%, while traditional public school enrollment in the state fell by 0.54%.

In Michigan, taxpayer money follows the student. So school finances are significantly impacted when many students leave. For example, Grand Rapids Public Schools initially said it lost 800 students during the pandemic.

“We definitely want to see some reforms put on Michigan’s charter school laws to create significantly stronger oversight of them; at a minimum, make them as transparent and responsible as our public school districts are required to be,” McCann said.

Michigan Association of Public School Academies President Dan Quisenberry disagreed with McCann about charter schools’ transparency and performance.

“Charter schools are the most open, transparent and accountable of all public schools,” Quisenberry told The Center Square in an email. “They are subject to every law related to accountability that a traditional public school is, and a whole lot more. If you’re looking at performance, the facts show that in Detroit, for example, charter schools outperform traditional public schools by every metric.”

Quisenberry said that during record pandemic learning loss, a teacher shortage, and other problems, schools should be focused on helping kids.

“It’s shameful that anyone would feel this is a good time to be targeting parents who choose another school for their child,” Quisenberry said. “We’re just now seeing the full, devastating impact of the pandemic on student achievement and mental health. There’s also a teacher shortage that’s affecting schools across the state. And yet this is a top priority right now? Attacking public schools that happen to be charter schools and the students they serve? It’s shameful. This is no time to be serving special-interest groups at the expense of students.”