By Harrison Blackmond, DFER Michigan State Director
You’ve heard me say this before – all schools should be held to high standards, regardless of whether the school is a charter or traditional public school. Unfortunately, there is a bill up for vote in Michigan that, in its current form, fails to ensure every child has a high-quality public school education.
Senate Bill 618 is part of a 7 bill package that would impact Michigan’s charter schools, removing the cap on university authorized charter schools and allowing for looser regulations around accountability and transparency. If this bill were to pass, the outcome – a proliferation of sub-standard schools – would be the inevitable result. We cannot let that happen.
I first weighed in on this legislation in September when I testified in front of the Michigan Senate Education Committee. In my testimony, I expressed the need to include provisions for oversight, accountability, and transparency within the bill to ensure all students in the state receive a high quality education. Yet, months later, these issues have not been addressed. And, as a result, concerns about Senate Bill 618 have become more heightened and widespread.
On Monday, a group of education reform organizations including: The Education Trust – Midwest, StudentsFirst, Progressives for Quality Public Schools, and Democrats for Education Reform joined in a letter of opposition to the bill in its current form.
As we stated: Ensuring that we are only bringing forward high-quality charters is key to our students’ and state’s overall success. Senate Bill 618 has the potential to position Michigan as a place that welcomes high-performing charter operators, innovation, and quality education, but only if amended to insist on upfront quality provisions that would encourage ALL authorizers to replicate only the highest-performing charter schools.