Dive Brief:
- State Superintendent Mike Flanagan met with charter school authorizers Monday, telling them the Michigan Department of Education is devising plans to hold them fiscally and academically responsible for the schools they charter.
- Flanagan, who will meet with the authorizer representatives again Wednesday, called the gathering after an investigative report by the Detroit Free Press highlighted the fact that while the state has spent $1 billion on charter schools, many lack accountability and transparency.
- Malverne Winborne, head of the charter office at Eastern Michigan University, told the Free Press that the new plan will zero in on charter contracts, transparency, academic performance, school finances, and how authorizers are evaluated.
Dive Insight:
Tim Wood who runs the Grand Valley State charter office told the Free Press that Flanagan started Monday's meeting saying, “we’ve been doing this for 20 years and it’s time to look at our practices..."
One such practice that has yet to be updated, according to the Free Press, is the 20-year trend of never punishing authorizers for poor performance. Authorizers are given 3% of a school's total per pupil funding allowance, which is typically a huge motivation for authorizing schools.
While it is commendable that Flanagan is making strides to change this and hold the schools and their authorizers accountable, some are wondering why it took a year-long investigation by the Free Press for such events to occur. Wasn't this Flangan's job the entire time? Shouldn't he have have been aware that this was an issue? These are questions some critics are now asking.