11/28/12 - Howell Superintendent Ron Wilson is voicing concerns about potentially sweeping education reform legislation currently making its way through the Michigan legislature. The Educational Achievement Authority or EAA was created to run low performing schools and House Bill 6004 would expand its powers and abilities. The EAA would be run by a board appointed by the governor and as written, but Wilson says the bill allows the EAA to potentially take over schools beyond the bottom 5% and open its own exempt from statewide assessments while also turning over existing local public schools to charter schools. House Bill 5923 would create a host of new forms of charter schools including selective admission and boarding schools as well as potential storefront schools operated by cultural organizations, businesses and other groups. Districts would also be required to maintain empty buildings at their own expense until someone wants to use it or sell or lease unused buildings to the EAA or any other charter school. State Representative Bill Rogers says he is not necessarily sold on the bills at first glance and feels they may have gone a bit too far. However, he tells WHMI everyone has a bias whether itâs public schools, charters, or even legislators and they have to create the best plan possible with the objective being to improve education. Wilson tells WHMI there are issues of accountability and a lack of checks and balances for monitoring performance with cyber schools. He doesnât think the state exerts the same level of control over those, many of which he says are actually private, for-profit virtual schools. He says the bills take away local oversight of property and districts would be forced to keep buildings open, even if doing so creates inefficiency. He says the legislation spells the loss of local control and is being fast tracked on several fronts in a deliberate attempt to move toward privatizing public schools. Wilson says hearings were also suddenly scheduled this morning for Senate Bills 770, 771, and 772 that severely limit access to the school bond loan fund which is the vehicle districts use to finance the construction of new facilities or upgrade to existing, aging buildings. Both bills are sponsored by State Representative Lisa Lyons, a Republican from Alto. (JM)
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