Tag: Detroit Public Schools

A lot of finger wagging and heady pontification takes place down in Lansing whenever the focus turns to Michigan's public schools. Heated debate is more than understandable too, as there has been little positive news concerning any part of that whole disaster in quite a long time.

As parents have incrementally abdicated their responsibilities to the all-caring bureaucrats of Lansing and Washington (and lets be honest here, our kind overlords have done more than a fair share of wresting responsibilities from parents resistant to this abdication,) test scores have worsened, districts have found it increasingly difficult to keep the buses running, and unions have dug in their heels against reforms integral to correcting problems that affect not only the test scoring, but the finances as well.

These problems are all well documented, and recent events aren't likely to change the headlines.

The largest school district in the state was rocked this week with the results of a national standardized test that placed it dead last among all schools in the nation that took the test. Honestly, that stark assessment does not go nearly far enough. The results recognized the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) system as not only the worst performing system on this particular test, but as the worst performing school in the history of the test. These shameful test results, owned by the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan, are a monument to failure on an historical scale.

When test results were delivered around the nation to school districts that take part in the standardized National Assessment of Educational Progress, only Detroit merited a visit by Michael Casserly, executive director of the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools, to help brief the media prior to the release of the results.

Pretty cool huh, that Detroit Public Schools should deserve the presence of a nationally recognized educator to address the media on the school's latest measurement of academic achievement.

HB 4047, sponsored by Bettie Scott and co-sponsored by 21 other Democrats, is deceptively simple. The entire substance of the bill is as follows:

A school district that was a first class school district as of September 1, 2008 shall continue to be considered to be a first class school district until July 1, 2010 regardless of its pupil membership.

Why does this matter? Here's what the House Legislative Analysis says:

In Michigan law "first class" districts operate under a different set of state regulations from "general powers" districts. The sections of the Revised School Code dealing with "first class" districts address school board composition, school board officers, school board meeting locations, board member personal interest in contacts, required annual audits, voting procedures, public communication, condemnation proceedings, bond sales, contracts, and public safety. The law also limits the creation of charter schools in such a district. And, there are also references in many other statutes to "first class" school districts.

There's the rub -- the bill would protect the present school board and, most importantly, limit the creation of charter schools in Detroit. There are four groups that can legally "charter" a school: universities, community colleges, intermediate school districts, or K-12 districts. Universities have reached their limit, and no intermediate or K-12 districts will charter schools in Detroit, leaving only community colleges who could do so. But, current Michigan law prohibits community colleges from chartering schools in "first class" districts.

The effect of this bill, therefore, is to prevent educational competition in Detroit, protecting one of the most incompetent and most poorly run educational enterprises in the entire country.

Not surprisingly, the entire educational establishment has lined up in favor of this bill, including the American Federation of Teachers, the Michigan Education Association, several members of the Detroit Board of Education, and the acting Detroit superintendent.

I hestitate to ask this, but has anyone asked how this bill might affect Detroit's students? Granted, there are fewer of them every year, but perhaps running DPS could be a little more about education and a little less about protecting petty fiefdoms and defending incompetence.