Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s push for more quality public school choices in Detroit is overdue — by decades.
Detroit’s public schools have been failing the city’s children for so long in so many ways that they have become the classic illustration of why additional choice makes such good sense.
And, as Kilpatrick realizes, whatever chance Detroit has of becoming a city more families want to come home to is inextricably linked to the quality of the education options available.
The mayor deserves kudos for embracing this fact so whole-heartedly. But the change he envisions, an expansion of charter public schools, should not be quickly rubber-stamped. Before letting the city embark on such an important expansion, the state, which has constitutional responsibility for public education, needs first to be satisfied that Michigan’s existing 229 charter schools have lived up to their promise.
The rise in choice
The state Legislature opened the door to charters, starting with eight, in 1994. Today, 100,000 of Michigan’s 1.6 million public school students attend charters, primarily in urban areas. But popularity isn’t proof of performance.
By law, only four groups have chartering authority: universities, which have the largest number of charters; community colleges; local school districts; and intermediate school districts. Most of the oversight of the companies and organizations seeking to open charter schools rests with the authorizers.
For years, the number of charters has been limited to 150. While the cap has slowed growth of these schools, it has done almost nothing to ensure more accountability.
The largest authorizers, such as Central Michigan University and Grand Valley State University, have built strong and thorough oversight standards into their application processes. The state needs to be in position to say the same of all its charter authorizers. Thirteen years after charters first opened, some are „still developing“ oversight plans, according to a 2006 charter school report from the Michigan Department of Education.
Making the grade
The academic gains of charters in general are somewhat more definable than the question of whether Michigan has the proper amount of oversight. By most academic measures, charters are at least keeping pace with their nearby traditional districts. In a number of cases, they are faring much better. Nine charter authorizers have larger percentages of schools that meet annual yearly progress targets than the local traditional district.
At the middle school level, charters tend to outperform local urban districts in both math and language arts. But like the local urban districts, they continue to lag behind state averages in the same subject areas. The point is that there are some clear academic measures in place, from MEAP scores and state averages to federal No Child Left Behind standards.
The way forward
Michigan needs equally efficient gauges to judge the management and oversight of these schools. With charter schools continuing to grow at such a steady pace, it would be irresponsible not to reexamine accountability.
The state Department of Education’s report, for example, contains at least two recommendations that demand legislative attention. One would empower Michigan’s school superintendent to set the rules by which charter authorizers with inadequate oversight can be suspended. Technically, Superintendent Michael Flanagan has the authority now, but the steps of arriving at the decision lack sufficient transparency.
To their credit, 10 charter authorizers voluntarily signed up for a pilot program called Assurance and Verification. Under that program, the state has 18 oversight standards to judge authorizers‘ against. But those steps should be the beginning, not the sum.
The other recommendation would hold authorizers accountable for student records once a charter school closes. Records and access to them are too vital to a child’s education for the state not to have tight reins. Parents forced to find a new school should not have the added hurdle of wondering who has their child’s records.
With the growth in charters that Kilpatrick is dreaming of for children in Detroit, state legislators have to ensure that charter public education is transparent.
Ultimately, families make the choice on charters. The state’s job is to make the choice a clear one.