Charter Schools in Michigan

Law:   Passed in 1993

Rank:   5th strongest of the nation's 40 charter laws

CER Grade:   A

Schools:   196

Students:  60,236

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 6-7, Dearborn, MI: The Michigan Association of Public School Academies Annual Conference, "Because Every Child Matters." For more information contact Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), Phone: 517-374-9167, Email: MAPSA@charterschools.org, Website: http://www.charterschools.org/.

POLITICS:

MONEY MATTERS: A new Michigan study on charter school funding dispels the allegation that charter schools cost traditional public schools money. In fact, the study released by the Michigan Chamber Foundation, shows that Michigan charter schools are funded on an average of $1,036 less per pupil than traditional public schools. The amount is broken down to an average of $355 in operating funds and $681 in capital funding. The range is higher in places such as Ann Arbor, where the differences in operational funding, is as high as $2,000. The biggest disparity between traditional public schools and public charter spending is a staggering $3,800 in the city of Southfield. The clear conclusion is that charters save money and if traditional systems followed the example of charters, all children would benefit from the additional resources. The complete report can be found at http://www.michchamber.com. From CER Newswire May 6, 2003.
MILL STONE: The growth of charters in the Great Lake State is being detrimentally affected by the recent decision of state education chief, Tom Watkins, not to approve any of the new charter schools that have been chartered by Bay Mills Community College. Mr. Watkins, prior to his tenure as education chief, had once been viewed as a strong charter supporter. He now claims that his Department does not have the resources to review charter schools, despite millions of dollars and hundreds of staff. Michigan charter advocates note that, just like their colleagues in Ohio, their state's education leader does not have the authority to overturn the decisions of a legislatively-mandated state chartering authority. From CER Newswire April 8, 2003.
LOSE-LOSE LEGISLATION: Michigan lawmakers have resurrected a bill that died earlier this month that would curtail the flexibility and freedom of charters and put them needlessly under additional state regulatory control. The move was designed as an attempt to compromise between those who wanted to lift the cap on charters to allow for more of these independent public schools and those who want to put them permanently into oblivion. Many charter proponents see this as a lose-lose, including the school leaders who will have to contend with new education bureaucracy oversight. Link to summary of the pending legislation.
MICHIGAN COMMISSION DOES HATCHET JOB ON CHARTERS: A review of Michigan charter schools conducted by a politically-appointed body offers misleading and inconsistent conclusions. "As is the case with many political commissions, the group ignored the facts. It neglected the growth in state test scores in many charter schools, or why parents - who are taxpayers and deserved their attention - choose them. And they chose to ignore the evidence in Michigan that charter schools have spurred public school districts to improve," said CER President Jeanne Allen. Read more in the June 2002 Monthly Letter, as well as comments from MAPSA, the state’s charter group, at their website at www.charterschools.org.

DEVELOPMENTS:

FEDERAL FUNDING: The feds announced the delivery of new federal funds under the public charter school grant program. The program provides up to $198 million for individual charter schools, research grants and best practices dissemination. One curious allocation: researchers from both an Arizona and a Michigan university received grants, despite each having a record of doing pretty shoddy analyses. Let's be clear: the charter money is critical for schools and the institutions that serve them. The lion's share of the money does go to schools. Now the key is to make sure that states are held to account for this new infusion of funding by the schools they are supposed to assist. From CER Newswire October 8. 2002. For a complete list of the grants, go to http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/10-2002/10072002.html.
MONEY MATTERS Michigan's charter schools now have a new avenue for funding facilities - the Michigan Public Education Facilities Authority. On May 14th, the Authority officially began to issue tax-exempt debt on behalf of charter schools. While the ability to make such arrangements previously existed under three agencies, only one such arrangement had been completed. Now charter schools have a single entity to work with. The new group hopes to begin considering applications for the sale of bonds as early as next month. The initial focus will be on issuing qualified bonds through the Authority to developers who will lease buildings to charter schools, spurring economic development as well as providing facilities for the schools. CER Newswire May 22, 2002.

ACHIEVEMENT:

MOST IMPROVED: Good news this week, amidst the move by some in Michigan to lower their standards. Governor Engler announced the 2002 Golden Apple Awards given to four "High Achieving" schools and 125 "Most Improved" schools. One charter school -- Midland Academy of Advanced and Creative Studies -- was selected in BOTH categories. Seventeen other charter schools received awards in the "Most Improved" category. The awards are given for the highest achieving and most improved scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test and come with a $10,000 award for school improvements. To show parents the standards students are being held to under the MEAP test, many school districts will invite parents and members of the community to take an abridged version of the high school MEAP test this month. Perhaps parents can use this as an opportunity to remind their leaders that lowering standards is not the way to improve education in the Great Lake State. CER Newswire, November 5, 2002.
GREAT GAINS: A Michigan think tank just released a study showing that charter school students do actually gain more in achievement than traditional public school students, even though the majority come in at vastly lower achievement levels. Using Michigan achievement data to track students on 4^th grade reading scores, the Mackinac Center found gains of 43 percent between 2000-2001, compared to only 10.1 percent for traditional public schools. (Go to www.mackinac.org/4581.) From CER Monthly Letter, Back to School 2002.

RESOURCES:

Profile of Michigan Charter School Law .

Links to Michigan Charter School Websites .

SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS:

Charter Schools Development and Performance Institute
2520 S. University Park
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859

Contact: Mary Kay Shields , Director
Tel: 517-774-2999
Fax: 517-774-2591

Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA) 215 S. Washington Sq., Suite 210 Lansing, MI 48933	Contact: Dan Quisenberry Tel: 517-374-9167 Fax: 517-374-9197 Email: MAPSA@charterschools.org
Website: http://www.charterschools.org/
MAPSA is a non-profit, non-partisan membership organization formed by a grassroots coalition of Michigan charter school supporters to represent their interests and serve as their united voice. Members include charter schools and granting authorities, business organizations and individual supporters. MAPSA provides technical assistance, networking, policy tracking and analysis, media outreach, conferences, research.
Metro Detroit Alliance for Charter Schools P.O. Box 1440 Dearborn, MI 48121	Contact: Nawal Hamadeh Telephone: (313) 598-3344 Fax: (313) 581-9475 Email: Hsemco@aol.com

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:

Michigan State Department of Education P.O. Box 30008 608 West Allegan Street Lansing, MI 48909	Contact: Patty Durkee Phone: (517) 373-4631 E-Mail: DurkeeP@state.mi.us
Website: http://www.state.mi.us/mde/off/eocc/index.htm#CSPSA