Panelists at Saturday’s Education Town Hall Meeting in Niles took the time to rally against the current set of education reform bills making their way through Lansing.
The panelists were particularly critical of a bill signed into law in December by Gov. Rick Snyder that lifts the cap on the amount of charter schools allowed in the state.
Gary Miron, a professor at Western Michigan University who has done extensive research on charter schools, said more than 80-percent of the state’s charter schools are operated by private, for-profit companies.
“Now we are seeing our schools run from Florida and California,” he said. “One of our schools in Kalamazoo, which has been shut down now, they couldn’t order paper without getting permission from Boston. Talk about bureaucracy.”
Miron said not only are charter schools performing worse than public schools on average, they are also leading to segregation by race and class.
“Charter schools are accelerating segregation. Many parents said charter schools are going to lead to white flight — it’s happening, but not nearly as much as black flight or Latino flight,” he said.
Miron added that charter schools have a high teacher turnover rate according to studies. Charter schools also spend a lower percentage on instruction than public schools, about 50 percent at charter schools to 60 percent at public schools.
“These aren’t charter schools. They are different than the ones they proposed in the ‘90s,” Miron said. “What we have today are franchise schools or corporate schools. Those are the names we should be using.”
State Rep. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, talked a lot about how the Kalamazoo Promise is boosting the economy in his area. The Kalamazoo Promise, which came out in 2005, essentially pays the tuition for any graduate of the Kalamazoo Public School system who attends a state college or university.
“When you talk about making communities commit to education, and sending a signal far and wide that this is a core value for us. That is what drives economic and quality of life success in a community,” McCann said.
Jack Arbanas, democratic candidate for the 78thDistrict, gave a presentation on how the state’s school aid fund is being used for purposes other than what it was intended. He said that fund should be supporting K-12 education only.
The town hall meeting was held at the Niles Senior Center. It was put on by the South County Blue Tiger Community Action Committee and the Berrien County Paraprofessional Association.
State Sen. Coleman Young II, D-Detroit, and Carrie Heinz, of the Michigan Education Association, also spoke at the meeting.
State Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph; State Rep. Sharon Tyler, R-Niles; and State Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville; were all invited to speak, but did not attend.