Diane Ravitch: Muskegon Heights, Highland Park charter takeovers signal 'death watch' for Michigan public schools | MLive.com:
Diane Ravitch: Muskegon Heights, Highland Park charter takeovers signal 'death watch' for Michigan public schools
Published: Friday, June 22, 2012, 4:15 PM Updated: Friday, June 22, 2012, 4:17 PM
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| Diane Ravitch addressed a Michigan Education Association in 2011, saying the United States is “in an age national stupidity,†with a corporate education reform agenda bent on “demonizing teachers so it can fire them.†|
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Are Michigan’s public schools on “death watch?”
Diane Ravitch thinks so.
Ravitch penned a blog this week pointing to the decisions by emergency financial managers in Muskegon Heights and Highland Park to turn schools over the charter school operators until the districts pay off millions of dollars of debt.
Ravitch is an influential historian, author and former U.S. assistant secretary of education during the first Bush Administration who now is a vocal opponent of school reform efforts, which she brands “corporate reforms.”
Ravitch called the state’s emergency manager law “draconian,” and that under it, “democracy comes to an end. The emergency manager has a free hand to do as he or she wishes. Decisions are made by diktat, with no need to consult with the community whose children are involved. So much for choice.
“As context, bear in mind that the governor cut the budget for public schools while giving big tax breaks to corporations. Under its present