Chippewa Valley Superintendent Weighs in on Education Reform: Schools of Choice, Privatization

Local and state representatives have promised a series of educational reforms in the coming months, but the impact of these reforms on the future of public education can only be theorized at this point by district administrators such as Chippewa Valley Schools Superintendent Ron Roberts.

“What they seem to be doing is taking away what control we have at the local level, so I’m curious as to what the future of public schools will look like,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if (this legislation) is a reaction to what some might describe as the worst of public education, but I don’t understand what they’re doing. I think the strength of much of what we do in our district is because we do have local control.”

Like many educators across the state, Roberts is closely following a package of education bills currently in the Michigan House and Senate.

To offer a local perspective on these statewide changes, Patch asked Roberts to weigh in on the bills related to schools of choice, charter schools and privatization, specifically.

Schools of Choice

Senate Bill 624, which was introduced to the Michigan Legislature by Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair) on Sept. 7, would amend the State School Aid Act to require public schools to accept students from any other district under a schools of choice program so long as the receiving district has the capacity.

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Education, and will have to be passed by both the Senate and the House before being introduced to Snyder and signed into law.

This bill is actually part of a package of five drafted bills and its passage depends upon passage of the other four. Those include Senate Bills 618, 619, 620 and 621, which seek to amend laws related to charter schools, privatizing teachers, cyber schools and school aid funding. 

“We’re paying attention to the bills on schools of choice, because we control it now and our approach has been somewhat liberal,” Roberts said. “To me, the whole package says a lot more than just what one bill is about. To me it seems like what the government is doing is changing the way it wants public schools to operate.”

At present, it is the discretion of school districts to offer schools of choice. Those that do offer schools of choice have control over how to implement the program and to whom they want to offer the opportunity to enroll. Chippewa Valley Schools offers fall schools of choice and just this year, to Macomb County residents.

Senate Bill 624 essentially edits 1979 Public Act 94 that allowed public schools the option to invite out-of-district students to enroll in their district. 

The draft of the newly introduced bill calls for local districts to determine their own capacity and do so in a specific time frame. According to the draft, the capacity for each grade, school and special program would be determined no later than the second Friday in August.

If there were seats open beyond those students in the district, districts would then be required to publish a list of the open seats by grades, schools and special programs.

Out-of-district students, which are limited to students within Michigan, would have 15 to 30 days to apply and the district would be required to notify those admitted no later than by the end of the first week of school. Districts will also be required to maintain a waiting list if there are more applicants than available seats. 

If enrollment changes before the school year begins or within the first week, districts must admit out-of-district students from the waiting list. If there are more open seats than those on the waiting list, and the district receives more applications further into the school year, the district may wait to enroll the student until the next semester or trimester.

In discussing the possible impacts of this bill, Roberts reiterated his concern that much of the district’s local control will be lost if this bill passes.

“I’m not convinced education should be run by some giant bureaucracy, away from where education takes place,” he said.

Privatization and Charter Schools

The schools of choice legislation also includes Senate Bill 618, which would allow school districts to contract with individuals or companies to provide teachers and remove the 150 charter school cap on university authorized charters, among other things.

While Roberts said he is not overly concerned with the growth of charter schools in the Chippewa Valley area, privatization is a theory he has not been sold on.  

“Some forces out there are painting public employees with one huge brush, and they seem to think that being a public employee is a drag on society,” Roberts said. “I worry about long-term privatization as more of the haves and the have nots. There are the company owners who own everything and some upper level management, and I worry about what that is going to do to the people living in our country without a management job.”

In terms of education, Roberts said his fear is that in a private world, the emphasis will turn to profit rather than student achievement.

One key point in the bill is the deletion of requirements for public school academies, urban high school academies, and schools of excellence to comply with a school district's collective bargaining agreement.

“I like having a certain control of our labor groups,” Roberts said. “They are our employees and we manage them. They are people from our community. It’s nice to know we are the people who have employed the people who are going to come into contact with our students. With privatization, we would lose that and I’m hesitant to give that up.”

While Roberts admits the state’s education system is in need of reform, he said he is worried legislators may be overlooking many of the strengths of local districts in their enthusiasm to reform the system’s weaknesses.

“Things are moving at breakneck speed, and I’m not sure how much dialogue people are interested in now,” Roberts said. “It seems like they are saying, ‘Here’s our plan, let’s pass our plan.’ I worry about that because every action has a reaction and when you put through legislation, unless you’ve really analyzed and talked to people about how it will impact them, you don’t know what will happen.”