The charter school movement in Michigan may have been one of the first symptoms of the attack on traditional public education, but the dismantling has intensified over the last two years. The great state of Michigan has initiated an unprecedented legislative assault on the members of educational unions which has been singled out for draconian legislation that will most likely discourage many of the best and brightest from ever considering a career in public education. The onerous barrage continued last week when laws allowing up to 2 percent of Michigan’s student population to enroll in what are known as cyber charter schools was forwarded to Governor Snyder. The two cyber schools currently authorized in the state, Michigan Virtual Charter Academy (800 students) and Michigan Connections Academy (638 students) have been in operation for only a short time and are scheduled for a thorough evaluation at the end of this school year. It would appear the Michigan Legislature did not wish to have any facts get in the way of their agenda and rammed this legislation through before the evaluation is scheduled to begin. According to Steven Norton, the executive director of Parents for Schools; “This evaluation calls for a progress report on the two experimental cyber schools at the end of this year. The report will analyze both their performance and detail their true expenses. This approach is sensible and fiscally prudent. Why toss it all aside?” As I understand it, the cyber charter schools will receive the same funding for each student enrolled even though they have no brick and mortar schools to maintain. This is just another state hand-over of tax dollars to profit- driven management companies that often have no connection to the community.
For the rest of the article, go to LES ROSAN: Is virtual education a race to the bottom?
