State of charter schools: How Michigan spends $1 billion but fails to hold schools accountable
What the Free Press found
A yearlong Free Press investigation of Michigan’s charter schools found wasteful spending, conflicts of interest, poor performing schools and a failure to close the worst of the worst. Among the findings:
Charter schools spend $1billion per year in state taxpayer money, often with little transparency.
Some charter schools are innovative and have excellent academic outcomes — but those that don’t are allowed to stay open year after year.
A majority of the worst-ranked charter schools in Michigan have been open 10 years or more.
Charter schools as a whole fare no better than traditional schools in educating students in poverty.
Michigan has substantially more for-profit companies running schools than any other state.
Some charter school board members were forced out after demanding financial details from management companies.
State law does not prevent insider dealing and self-enrichment by those who operate schools.
Unique web content
You can find Web-only stories, video interviews, documents and a statewide database with academic results that will be posted Thursday.
Coming Thursday: Searchable database of every charter school in Michigan, academic performance and comparison with traditional schools.
Weak state oversight allows secrecy, abuses
Sunday, June 22: Charter management companies flock to Michigan, which — unlike some other states — requires little transparency or accountability in the rapidly growing number of charter schools.
Some private interests have scammed system
Monday, June 23: Insiders have enriched themselves, thanks to Michigan’s ineffective conflict-of-interest laws.
School board power often limited to a rubber stamp
Tuesday, June 24: Critics say many boards are not independent — and some have been punished when they asked too many questions.
Pro charter school group wields increasing power
Wednesday, June 25: The Great Lakes Education Project aggressively lobbies on behalf of charter schools — and punished one lawmaker who defied its agenda.
