As seen in Crain’s Detroit Business

June 24, 2024 05:46 AM

Michigan’s schools are in dire need of a rethink.

As outlined in a recent Crain’s Forum, the state has fallen to 42nd in the nation in K-12 achievement. And we’re behind most other states in reworking our practices and curricula to fit the needs of the current century.

Business leaders have been shouting this for years, through such efforts as the School Finance Research Collaborative and Launch Michigan, a coalition group of business, education and nonprofit leaders who have studied the structure and details of Michigan education deeply and thoroughly.

Launch Michigan’s recommendations, outlined in a 2022 report, have basically gathered dust. They bear consideration..
One problem is structural. As Business Leaders for Michigan CEO Jeff Donofrio points out in Crain’s Forum, Michigan has one of the nation’s most decentralized education systems, with most key decisions being made at the level of the more than 800 school districts in the state.

Relics of decisions and conflicts from decades ago produce situations like the city of Warren, which is served by six different school districts, each with its own school board and superintendent.

While “local control” has its place, that decentralization makes turning around a ship that’s going in the wrong direction all but impossible.

Michigan’s system is also unusual in that we have an elected state school board that hires the superintendent of public instruction, who runs the Department of Education but doesn’t report to the governor.

That has prompted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to seek create what amounts to a second Department of Education, called the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Achievement and Potential.

Whether you view that move as a workaround or a power grab or something in between, creating a whole second education department is certainly a symptom of a system that isn’t working.

To create and maintain a 21st-century workforce, a high school diploma should convey confidence that students have specific learning and skills. Right now, they really don’t. And there needs to be a mechanism by which that list of skills evolves quickly and keeps up with the world outside school walls.

As Launch Michigan said in its framework recommendations, “We envision a future where the attainment of a high school diploma means more than just having been present from kindergarten through 12th grade.”

That requires a system that can evolve as quickly as technology and society. The system we have can’t possibly do that. It also needs effective accountability measures for those in power and those teaching in the classroom.

Changing the structure of public education in Michigan would be a difficult proposition, likely requiring a ballot drive to amend the state Constitution. It would likely be a tough sell to voters.

But the fact remains that serious change is needed. The business community has outlined the problems and put forward potential solutions that have been proven out in other states.

The status quo just can’t be an option.

By Crain’s Detroit Business editorial board