Michigan Schools Countywide Consolidation Conversation (Update: Detroit Free Press Editorial)

Don’t fail our kids, Lansing: Rethink school districts

STEPHEN HENDERSON EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

   Bold thinking is on tap for Michigan’s school-funding crisis, and so far it looks like State Superintendent Mike Flanagan might be the only one in the right space.  Gov  . Rick Snyder and the state’s legislative leaders need to join him, both to stop the collapse of insolvent districts and to suspend the thoughtless flailing that has thus far been Lansing’s response.

   Flanagan said a few months ago in legislative testimony that he believed the 55 districts projected to run deficits — a record — was a sign of a fundamental financing issue. He suggested reducing the number of districts from more than 500 (more per capita than nearly any other state) to just 83, to match the number of counties in Michigan. This week, he sent a letter to legislative leaders with an actual proposal that would do that, and save the state millions by eliminating duplicative administrations that sometimes span no more than a few square miles.

   One of my favorite examples is St. Clair Shores, just 14 square miles yet home to three school districts — as many as the city has ZIP codes. But you can look just about anywhere in Michigan to find similar silliness.

   The dirtiest little secret is that many of the state’s funky school district lines owe their existence to historical bigotry and class divisions. Carve-outs were made in some places (think Pontiac and Waterford , or the aforementioned Buena Vista and Saginaw) to ensure and preserve nefarious social and cultural barriers. When the state was fat with tax revenue, it was all affordable. Now, the historic divisions are not only politically indefensible, they’re unaffordable, too.

   Flanagan deserves a lot of credit for leaping into the breach on this issue and suggesting a way forward. It’s far more responsible than the bill passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder that will allow the Department of Education to shutter small school districts that run out of money. That shortsighted proposal is akin to managing a bursting dam with fingertips, rather than building a new dike.

   There are some issues that Michigan lawmakers will want to consider, though, in making a transition.

   A strictly county-based system may not be the best idea. Even in Maryland, where county government is almost universally the most local oversight that exists, there are exceptions. Baltimore, for example, has its own school district in addition to its own mayor and city council ; big jurisdictions in Michigan, like Detroit, might merit a similar exception. Or they might not: What would Detroit’s schools be like if residents from other communities also had to rely on the city school system to educate their kids? That’s worth a healthy debate.

   In truth, countywide school districts could save money (on overhead and administrative costs) without shuttering a single school, but the state should certainly not rule out consolidating schools as part of the process.

   Flanagan’s proposal just needs to be a starting point — an initial weigh station to start rethinking the structure of school governance in a thoughtful and big-picture way.

   It’s about time we got that opportunity. Snyder and the Legislature ought not blow it.

   Stephen Henderson is editorial page editor for the Free Press and the host of “American Black Journal,” which airs at 1p.m. Sundays on Detroit Public Television. Follow Henderson on Twitter@ShendersonFreep, or contact him at 313-222-6659 or shenderson600@freepress.com  .

What would Detroit’s schools be like if other communities also had to rely on the city school system to educate their kids? JESSICA J. TREVINO/DETROIT FREE PRESS