EAA Yin & Yang (Update: Pending Legislation)

Local commentary

Education authority legislation spells trouble for school districts

By Hoon-Yung Hopgood

   In Detroit, there has been much discussion about the Education Achievement Authority, which was created to operate 15 Detroit public schools that are among the lowest 5% achieving schools in Michigan.

   This authority was created through an interlocal agreement between the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents and Detroit Public Schools and will eventually allow for the takeover of other schools around the state identified as “persistently low performing.”

   With the EAA schools only in operation for a couple of months, we have yet to see whether this authority has been at all successful.

   That has not given pause to the Michigan Legislature, which has introduced a bill that would codify the experimental Education Achievement Authority in statute.

   Like many metro Detroiters, I vehemently oppose this legislation. To be sure, something must be done to aid our lowest performing schools in the state. However, the manner in which this rushed and haphazard legislation addresses the issues these schools face is absolutely misguided.

   In requiring that EAA board members, as well as the chancellor, be appointed by the governor, the legislation drastically hacks away at local control. Board members in Lansing are not likely to know what’s best for the students in a particular school district. We’ve seen a power structure like this before, in the form of the emergency manager legislation.

   Our residents made it clear that they opposed such legislation, but still the Republican majority has re-created this overreaching structure through the EAA legislation. This lack of oversight from any form of publicly elected body and complete absence of local control is unprecedented.

   In addition, schools will be placed into this authority in a rapid manner, with no structure for exiting the system. As a result, the EAA will continue to grow exponentially, taking over more and more schools every year while continuously removing local control.

   Also, even more funding will be removed from our local school districts that need it desperately. And, if a school that has been taken over has bonded debt associated with it, local taxpayer dollars will continue to fund a school that the community has no say over.

   In one version of the bill, schools would have been forced to lease unused buildings to whatever interested party came along, while also being forced to maintain these buildings on their own dime.

   If this were really about what was best for our kids, school funding never would have been slashed in the first place. It’s clear that, as it stands, there are many serious issues that need to be worked out in this legislation before it moves any further.

   In other regards, the EAA legislation is much too narrow and does nothing to address the specific issues that we know would improve conditions in low-performing schools, such as reduced class size, expanded access to early childhood education, adequate funding, and local support to students and their families in our communities.

   Simply put, this bill does not need to be rushed through the Legislature in lame-duck session.

   The existing EAA can continue to operate as is, without this legislation being enacted.

   The issue of lowest performing schools can, and should, be discussed in the new year, when we have time to draft more thoughtful and well-crafted legislation.

   • HOON-YUNG HOPGOOD IS A DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATOR FROM TAYLOR.

Hoon-Yung Hopgood

LETTER

Principal: EAA working in Detroit

   My allegiance is to children and the students at Denby High School, one of the most violent ZIP codes in the nation. I have chosen the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan because it is building a foundation of systemic, sustainable and quality education in the urban core.

   This system doesn’t involve hierarchical thinking, but rather a mission to find the best means to educate students who are already on a fast track to failure as a result of poverty, violence, instability and limited resources. These students are on academic and social life support.

   Why is it that so many people invested in a failed school system and are not willing to put their energy in a new school system that I have seen shows real promise of fundamental change? Our youth are a mere representation of a system and society that have already failed them; they are in dire need of academic, social and emotional growth. Adults are embattled over who has the best system to create a much-needed change. But what we have had in place in the past has not and does not work.

   This institution is one best addressed with an open mind. The Education Achievement Authority has embarked on a meritorious mission to disrupt traditional public education, to remove the barriers that continuously impede the progress of teaching and learning, and to develop a model for 21st century learning. This widely debated issue of who shall educate the children has become a platform for some to determine the future of these students in which they have no interest. They are not informed about what it takes to educate the state’s lowest performing children, but yet are afraid of change.

   The EAA is all about the children and as one of its new principals I have been able to continue to educate children at Denby with a hands-on approach. I have accepted academically promising students, and I have accepted students who have been imprisoned and are seeking a second chance.

   Ihave worked to provide a full spectrum of services for special education students. I work with the parents of these students daily to involve them in their student’s journey and I’ve employed teachers and staff members who report to the school every day to work hand-in-hand with me and the students to provide change, helping them to discover the bright future that lies ahead.

   Ican’t and never will vilify the Detroit Public Schools as a previous union employee of DPS, a graduate of DPS and the child of a DPS educator. I can say that EAA Chancellor John Covington has displayed uncharacteristically high levels of humility, compassion and dedication for children and his staff. He is an educator and he understands the needs of our students. It is my prayer that the political powers will give us the opportunity to provide that for our children.

   K.C. Wilbourn Snapp

   Principal of Denby High School