Governor Snyder's Education Summit (Update: Skunk Works Group)

Free Press Editorial 4-24-2013

Keep backroom dealings out of the classroom

   Gov. Rick Snyder says education in Michigan — and in the nation — is broken, and badly in need of reform.

   We couldn’t agree more.

   So, let’s talk about it.

   But let’s do so without a “skunk works group” that’s meeting independently and clandestinely to develop a sweeping school reform program. That’s disrespectful of the voters who sent Snyder to Lansing. And it’s disrespectful of the parents, teachers and students who depend on our public education system.

   The secret group — which includes the state’s chief information officer; four employees of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, and representatives from software companies and charter schools — has developed a technology-driven “value school” model that cuts the cost of public education by about $2,000 per pupil and would be funded by voucher-like state debit cards.

   Lansing attorney Richard McLellan, a staunch voucher advocate, is also part of the group.

   So, a group of charter-school employees, technology company workers and a voucher enthusiast got together to redesign Michigan schools, and came up with a technology-oriented voucher system? Shocking.

   Snyder has said that he didn’t create the group or ask them to meet, but he hasn’t shut it down, either. And he did ask McLellan to come up with a big re-thinking of the state’s school-funding model. In remarks made Monday at his education summit, the governor made it clear that he will listen to the group.

   It’s fine to take input from across the spectrum, but these are not conversations that should happen behind closed doors. If McLellan and the others have great ideas for education in Michigan, they ought to put them out on the table with everyone else’s, and entertain a reasonable public discussion about where the state should be headed.

   Doing otherwise makes the whole thing look like a fix — a backroom way for voucher advocates to get their way, no matter what voters and taxpayers think.

   It’s worth noting that the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Koch-brothers-related group that creates “model legislation” promoting a radical, anti-regulatory and anti-tax agenda, is a fan of the voucher system.

   The group, which allows corporate interests to weigh in on model legislation before it’s approved by public officials, has several voucher bills available on its website.

   We’ll be interested to see whether any legislation that emerges from the skunk group mirrors ALEC’s work.

ANDRE J. JACKSON/DETROIT FREE PRESS