The Cost of Choice
A new study finds that charter school expansion in Michigan has meant financial chaos for a growing number of school districts…
EduShyster: Your new study looks at why certain school districts in Michigan have descended into a state of, as I like to describe it, *smoking ruin.* To keep the suspense alive, tell us what you found DID NOT contribute to the severe financial distress of these districts.
David Arsen: The question we looked at was how much of this pattern of increasing financial distress among school districts in Michigan was due to things that local districts have control over as opposed to state-level policies that are out of the local districts’ control: teacher salaries, health benefits, class size, administrative spending. We also looked at an item that the conservative think tanks are big on: contracting out and privatization. We found that, overwhelmingly, the biggest financial impact on school districts was the result of declining enrollment and revenue loss, especially where school choice and charters are most prevalent. We looked at every school district in Michigan with at least 100 students and we followed them for nearly 20 years. The statistics are causal; we’re not just looking at correlation.
EduShyster: There’s a table in your paper which actually made me gasp aloud—which I’m pretty sure is a first. I’m talking, of course, about the chart where you show what happened to Michigan’s *central cities,* including Detroit, as charter schools really started to expand.
Arsen: We have districts getting into extreme fiscal distress because they’re losing revenue so fast. That table in our paper looked at the central cities statewide and their The Cost of Choice – EduShyster:
Big Education Ape: Michigan's shortchanging its kids. Why? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/michigans-shortchanging-its-kids-why.html
Big Education Ape: State of Michigan Failing Charter Schools: One Year Later Nothing Has Changed - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/07/state-of-michigan-failing-charter.html
