Bills could change way struggling schools run
They would put the governor’s office, special groups in charge
By Chastity Pratt Dawsey Free Press Education Writer
Lawmakers are considering bills that would turn the state’s school reform district into an arm of the governor’s office and create public schools that could be run by employers, cultural institutions or municipalities — part of a legislative package that could potentially reshape public education in the state.
Legislation introduced in the House and Senate would allow the governor to appoint the board of the reform district, the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan, starting in 2014. The bills would give the EAA power to opt out of state assessments such as the MEAP test and the authority to automatically take control of schools that perform in the lowest 5% for three consecutive years.
The EAA bills also could cost districts across the state millions for building maintenance because they would require districts to maintain the 3,330 unused school buildings statewide and sell or lease them to educational institutions such as the EAA or other public or charter schools. Detroit Public Schools would be hard hit — it has more than 80 unused buildings.
The legislation would establish a law to govern the EAA, replacing the current contract. The EAA was formed in 2011 through an agreement between DPS and Eastern Michigan University. This fall it took over its first schools — 15 schools that were formerly part of DPS. Earlier this month, the Detroit school board voted to withdraw from the agreement and demanded that the 15 schools be transferred back to DPS. The state has said the board cannot reclaim the schools.
The EAA bills, sponsored by Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, and Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, would phase out DPS’s and EMU’s involvement in the EAA. The governor initially would appoint members to fill vacancies on the seven-member board, and by 2014 the governor would appoint all board members. The board would still appoint the chancellor.
The governor also would appoint the state school redesign officer, who oversees the academic plans of the lowest-achieving schools. That person is currently appointed by the state schools superintendent.
Michael Flanagan, the state superintendent, said in a memo to superintendents that there is merit in establishing the EAA in law, but “the legislation before the state House and Senate, however, includes several provisions that are of deep concern to me, and will impact schools across Michigan.”
If the EAA bills pass through the Legislature this year, two dozen schools would qualify to transfer to the EAA. The state’s 2012 list of priority schools — formerly called persistently low achieving schools — has 37 schools statewide that have been among the 5% lowest-achieving schools for three straight years. Of those, 13 are already in the EAA, according to the House Fiscal Agency.
In response to questions and criticisms at a state board of education meeting Tuesday, Greg Tedder, a strategic adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder, said the state can’t wait another year to formalize the EAA.
He said while the EAA is new, its plans to provide individualized instruction to all students aren’t new and “the platform they’re using has been developed for years.”
“We’ve waited long enough for some of these kids,” he said.
Another bill Lyons introduced in September is becoming a growing concern among critics because it would create nine new kinds of public schools, including ones run by employers, cultural institutions and municipalities.
When considered alongside the draft Michigan Public Education Finance bill released on Monday, this package of proposed legislation would reshape public education in Michigan.
The draft bill would expand online classes and provide up to $10,000 in scholarships for early high school completion. It would rewrite the State School Aid Act of 1979, allowing students to split their education and their per-pupil funding in multiple public and online schools and fund districts based on monthly enrollment counts.
The governor’s education adviser, Richard McLellan, who wrote the state’s former charter schools law and the school voucher ballot referendum that voters rejected in 2000, wrote the draft funding bill, the EAA bills and the bill creating schools.
Snyder wanted the legislation developed to allow students to be educated “any time, any place, any way, any pace” in time for his 2013 budget.
“The industrial model — single type of school — is not what we need in the future,” McLellan said.
However, McLellan said that the bill that is perhaps most controversial — the new schools bill — has prompted good discussion, but it won’t get through the Legislature this year.
“That bill is far too complicated and has many serious public policy issues,” he said, adding he expects it to be reworked and reintroduced next year.
Criticism of the bills is building because opponents say the proposed legislation would turn Michigan’s public schools into a for-profit, free-market system with no quality controls.
Amber Arellano, executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, a Royal Oak-based education policy and research organization, expressed concerns at a House Education Committee meeting Nov. 19 about the bills that would allow the EAA to act as a “super authorizer” that can open schools statewide.
“This bill, alongside (the new schools bill), could be interpreted to give the EAA the authority to authorize new charter schools across the state of Michigan — far, far beyond its charge of improving the lowest-performing 5% schools,” Arellano said.
“We urge state lawmakers to adopt language in these bills that would … meet a basic level of quality performance.”
DPS spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement that Roy Roberts, appointed by the governor to be the emergency financial manager for DPS, agrees that the EAA should report directly to the governor.
“As a statewide school district, it makes perfect sense that eventually the EAA would answer to Michigan’s governor,” Zdrodowski said.
• CONTACT CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY:
313-223-4537 OR CPRATT@FREEPRESS.COM . STAFF WRITER LORI HIGGINS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
THE EAA BILLS
Proposed legislation would establish the state school reform district, the Education Achievement Authority, as a legal entity that would report to the governor. The bills would:
• Allow the EAA to automatically take control of schools that perform in the bottom 5% for three consecutive years.
• Cancel bargaining agreements and pension participation for employees in schools that transfer to the EAA.
• Allow the EAA chancellor to terminate or modify contracts.
• Allow the chancellor to appoint a CEO to operate an EAA school with full autonomy.
• Require districts that are run by an emergency financial manager to “hotel” its buildings, making them available for use by multiple educational and community organizations.
• Require all districts statewide to maintain closed, unused or unoccupied buildings and provide the Michigan Department of Education with an inventory by Aug. 31 each year.
• Stipulate that a district lease or sell an unused building to an educational institution for fair market value.
• Require the EAA to maintain a searchable website with financial data updated at least monthly.
THE NEW FORMS OF SCHOOLS BILL
The bill would create nine new kinds of public schools that are:
• Employer-supported
• Cultural-institution affiliated
• Municipal-run
• Residential
• Single-gender
• International-culture based
• Globally competitive (highly selective)
• University-run
• Online
Video: Education Achievement Authority Board Meeting November 8, 2012
http://www.mistreamnet.com/vidflv.php?who=eaa110812
Video: Michigan State Board of Education Meeting November 20, 2012 (Still Unavailable / Stay tuned)
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