State Superintendent Mike Flanagan announced today that 11 of the 40 charter school authorizers have been put in “At-Risk of Suspension” status after a damning investigative report by the Detroit Free Press recently reveal gross negligence, a lack of transparency, nepotism, and, most importantly, poor performance in many of Michigan’s charter schools. In Michigan, which has a quarter of the […]

Back in 2012, Pontiac Emergency Manager Louis Schimmel signed an agreement with Oakland County to manage monies from a substantial HUD grant. That turned out to be a nearly disasterous decision that would have resulted in a loss of upwards of $800,000 per year for Pontiac. Thankfully, Congressman Gary Peters stepped in a saved the day (and the money.) At […]

Lansing, we have a problem The amped-up Emergency Manager laws passed by Michigan Republicans in 2011 and again in 2012 were specifically designed to give far more sweeping powers to the one unelected potentate who assumes control of the school district or municipality. The sweeping away of local elected officials and the snuffing out of local democracy was needed, said […]

The EAA isn’t the only experiment being conducted on Detroit children In all of the sturm und drang over Republican Governor Rick Snyder’s Educational Achievement Authority experiment with Detroit children, it’s easy to forget about the other experiment they are part of: state control of the Detroit Public Schools by an Emergency Manager. I’ve written reams on this topic but […]

As faculty and students at Eastern Michigan University gather at a rally today to urge their Board of Regents to sever their educational institution’s relationship with Governor Snyder’s failed Educational Achievement Authority experiment in Detroit, lawmakers in Lansing are whipping votes to pass legislation that will expand it statewide and codify it into law. Yesterday’s bombshell news that State Superintendent […]

EAA EXPANSION BILL STALLED IN STATE LEGISLATURE With all of the heartbreaking news and stories coming out of Detroit, particularly in regards to the education of Detroit students, I thought it would be nice to start with some good news today. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press today, the bill to codify the Education Achievement Authority in […]

The more you dig, the more there is to break your heart DEMS GET VOCAL ABOUT OPPOSITION TO THE EAA Yesterday, House Democrats held a press conference slamming the Republican push to expand the EAA in face of recent allegations and no proof of improvement. During their comments, they described it as a power grab that puts kids in danger […]

Sometimes conspiracy theorists are right Two things happened this week that are raising questions in the education community. The first is the “coincidental” power outages that occurred in Detroit schools the day before the all-important Count Day yesterday. The outages resulted in with Detroit Public Schools being closed on the day when they count kids to determine how many attend […]

It’s time for a conversation NOTE: My reporting on the Education Achievement Authority involves multiple posts. You can read all of my coverage of the EAA by clicking HERE. EAA Chancellor John Covington released a report of his personal investigation into the allegations in my reporting which you can read about HERE. Last week, I published an exclusive exposé on […]

NOTE: My reporting on the Education Achievement Authority involves multiple posts. You can read all of my coverage of the EAA by clicking HERE. EAA Chancellor John Covington released a report of his personal investigation into the allegations in my reporting which you can read about HERE. Over the past couple of years, Republicans and the Snyder administration have attempted […]

Is it now too expensive to teach disabled children? [CC image credit: ~kawaii-bubble-wrap | deviantART] In April of this year, former Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts announced that Oakman Elementary/Orthopedic, a school specializing in serving disabled Detroit students, was slated to be closed. After doing a cost-benefit analysis, the school was found to be too expensive to keep […]