Finley: Let Detroit decide fate of its schools
When I first heard the Detroit education coalition was recommending a return of the city’s schools to an elected board, I thought it was the nuttiest idea ever.
Recall that the Detroit school board was populated by illiterates, self-dealers and union toadies whose motives had very little to do with getting the city’s children a quality education. It would be crazy to put those incompetents back in charge.
But the more I think about it, the more inclined I am to agree with the coalition.
In a democracy, there’s only so much you can do to protect the people from themselves.
So rather than yet another grand strategy for fixing Detroit’s miserable schools, Gov. Rick Snyder should acknowledge running local schools is a local function and not the responsibility of the state. And, in truth, the state hasn’t done much better during six years of emergency management.
Yes, less money is being stolen, wasted and diverted to the pockets of cronies. But the district still has $425 million in debt and an operating deficit of $170 million.
And yes, student performance and graduation rates have reversed their decline and even inched up a bit. But the academic progress under state rule falls far short of transformational.
This coalition was billed as being representative of Detroit school stakeholders. Presumably, it speaks for the people. If this is what the people want, give it to them.
And then get out.
No more heroic efforts to save Detroit against its will, no more sticking taxpayers throughout Michigan with the bill.
Give Detroit the same per-pupil grant as every other district, along with whatever additional funds are necessary to meet state mandates. Cover the bond debt that was racked up under emergency management — that’s fair, and the state is contractually obligated anyway.
And then let the people decide whether they want schools wholly dedicated to the interests of their children, or ones that return to the days when the district served as host to every parasite in the city. Committed local school leaders, if they exist, are fully capable of implementing the coalition’s recommendations.
Everyone seems to agree the future of Detroit depends on providing families with quality schools. It would seem, then, that the mayor, City Council and business community would have an even stronger interest in getting education right than would the governor and Legislature.
The only extra thing Snyder should do — again, in the interest of democracy — is to make sure parents continue to have quality choices.
The coalition seemed focused on protecting the DPS from charter competition. But despite the oft-repeated canard that charter schools perform no better than traditional public schools, the facts in Detroit are that children are progressing faster in charters than in DPS schools, and doing so in a safer, more nurturing environment.
Get the state out of Detroit schools and let parents determine with their enrollment choices whether DPS survives or continues its slide toward obsolescence.
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Follow Nolan Finley at detroitnews.com/finley, on Twitter at @nolanfinleydn, on Facebook at nolanfinleydetnews and watch him at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays on "MiWeek" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.