By Dave Murray
Grand Rapids Press
October 12, 2011
Families with children in failing schools would be “empowered” to convert their traditional public school into a charter school under a bill that cleared a state Senate committee Wednesday, though critics say the conversion doesn’t promise academic improvement.
Under the “parent trigger” bill, schools would be offered to charter school authorizers if at least 60 percent of parents agree to the move, or if 60 percent of teachers want the change and 51 percent of parents agree. Schools would have to be in the lowest-performing 5 percent of Michigan schools to be eligible. Senate Education Committee chairman Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, said the plan offers more choices to involved parents who might be frustrated by the pace of improvement in an under-performing school.
Similar bills are under consideration in more than 20 states, according to national school choice advocates.
But opponents said the move would break teacher contracts and opens the door to charter advocates organizing in neighborhoods, nudging parents toward demanding the change.
“The parent trigger bill operates under a false premise that you can flip a switch and schools will improve overnight just because they’d be a charter school,” said Doug Pratt, public affairs director for the Michigan Education Association.
“None of these so-called education reforms will do anything to help kids. All they’ll do is line the pockets of charter school operators.”
The bill was approved in a 3-2 party line vote in the Republican-controlled Education Committee on Wednesday, and heads to the full state Senate. It’s the latest in a series of GOP-led changes intended to ramp up the number of charter schools and increase the competition for local districts.
Senate Republicans pushed through other charter school bills last week, including lifting the cap on university authorized schools and provisions intended the lure successful out-of-state management companies into working in Michigan.
The reform bills have opposition from unions and other school groups, including some state Board of Education members.
The Democrat-controlled board on Tuesday debated whether to send an “open letter” to lawmakers suggesting changes, but couldn’t get enough support because some members are opposed to adding charters and others didn’t like the proposed changes.
Board member Marianne Yared McGuire, D-Detroit, said the reform package would “open the floodgates” for charters and would “be the death knell for public education, which is something to revere in this country.”
Board member Cassandra Ulbrich, D-Rochester Hills, opposed the trigger bill, saying puts too much power in the hands of parents when other people in the neighborhoods have a stake in a school’s success.
The state Education Department in August released a list of 98 persistently low-performing schools based on standardized test scores; most were in Detroit and other urban areas.
Under the bill, parents or teachers collecting the needed number of petitions would request the district to convert the school to a charter school, allowing it to operate outside of union contracts. If the school board refuses, the parents and teachers could approach a university to authorize the charter.
Union contracts would be nullified, though lawmakers said there “is still work to do” on aspects of the bill including what would happen to teachers in a converted school.
The bill calls for the home district to lease the building to the new group for $1 a year, a provision that concerned school board advocates.
“I don’t see how you can have a mandatory $1 a year lease on a public building that taxpayers paid for,” said Don Wotruba, deputy director of the Michigan Association of School Board, which opposed the bill.
“It seems to me that the threshold is too low for a school to be converted. You don’t want parents being able to do this on a whim, because they’re mad at the board or the football coach or because of a contract situation.”
But Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington, D.C- based Center for Education Reform, called the trigger “the ultimate example of parental empowerment.”
California was the first with a law on the books, and Texas parents can intervene after two or more years of an “unacceptable” performance rating. Ohio’s pilot program applies to only the bottom 5 percent of Columbus schools, and Connecticut allows failing schools three years to change course before going into effect, Allen said California school boards and unions have fought the changes in the courts, including challenging the signatures on petitions.
“It’s tough for parents to wrestle control from the school boards, unions and educational establishment,” she said, “This is a different approach to change. It puts the parents back in the drivers seat.”