Brandon wants charter expansions

With Gov. John Engler's plan to hand over the Detroit public schools to Mayor Dennis Archer days away from passage and talk of privatization as a possible solution for struggling public schools, the face of primary education in Michigan is changing.

One new phenomenon - charter schools - may soon become an issue on campus as Regent David Brandon (D-Ann Arbor) said he hopes to see the University sponsor charter schools in the future.

"I would love to believe that at some point our university could get involved," Brandon said. "Who better than the University of Michigan to get it right?"

As former chair of Central Michigan University's Board of Trustees, Brandon said during his term the school's chartering program grew from a small group of visionaries to a fully-operational university office. Brandon, along with all other members of CMU's board, was appointed by Engler.

Brandon said CMU, which supports 47 of the nearly 150 charter schools in Michigan, is the largest charterer of schools in the nation. Nine of the 15 public universities in Michigan charter schools at this time.

While new in Michigan, charter schools exist in 33 states, Brandon said, adding that they are becoming an important and lasting aspect of the education system.

"Charter schools are a phenomenon that is here to stay," he said.

Regent Daniel Horning (R-Grand Haven) said he agrees with his colleague's ideas for University involvement with charter schools.

"I would be supportive of that mission if it fit into the academic mission of our university and if it were done in a fiscally responsible manner," Horning said. "Charter schools that have been chartered at other universities have been successful. Brandon brings to the table some involvement."

But Regent Olivia Maynard (D-Goodrich) said she is not convinced that charter schools have lived up to their promises.

"I have some real difficulties with charter schools," Maynard said. "I would not like to see any expansion until we know more about them."

Maynard said her concerns include the possibility of charter schools not being held to the same tough standards as public schools and the chartering organizations' failing to keep a close eye on the way the school is run.

Brandon stressed that the debate over charter schools should not be a political issue because they benefit all parties involved.

"This provides a great incentive for public schools to get their act together," he said. "It raises the bar that public schools are shooting for."

Brandon isn't alone in his support for this alternative approach to K-12 education.

In his State of the Union address last January, President Clinton pledged his support for the idea, setting a goal to get 3,000 charter schools up and running across the country.

John Truscott, spokesperson for Gov. John Engler, said the governor believes charter schools expand educational options for Michigan residents.

"He has always been a supporter of charter schools because they give parents and students the optimal choice for education," Truscott said.

State Rep. John Hansen (D-Dexter) said in theory, charter schools offer a great opportunity for alternative means of educating, but sometimes there are other motivating factors in the decision to form the schools.

"If it's done for the right reasons it's a good thing," Hansen said. "But if it's done so affluent white kids can avoid sitting next to someone who is 'none of the above,'" they can be detrimental.

Hansen, who served as superintendent of Dexter Public Schools, also mentioned his belief that CMU's involvement with charter schools came as a result of Engler's power to appoint the trustees to the school's board of directors. Engler had a desire to see more charter schools in Michigan and appointed trustees who would carry out those plans, Hansen said.

In order for a charter school to become fully operational and receive funding from the state, an organization such as CMU must first accomplish several things, including providing start-up costs, a facility to house the school and attracting students.

As long as the school complies with all public school rules and regulations, the state will provide the $5,500-5,600 it allots for each student in the public school system.

This fact worries some opponents, including Education junior Karen Miao, who said charter schools drain money from the budget of the already financially-strapped public school system in Michigan. Miao said she is also unconvinced of the educational benefits.

"I'm not that familiar with them, but from what I've seen, there hasn't been a lot of evidence to support results from them," Miao said. "I'm much more comfortable teaching in a public school."

But Patrick Irwin, board president of Caesar Chavez Academy, said he has seen the enormous impact that this charter school has had on lives of his students.

The school is located in southwest Detroit, an area that has lost 20,000 jobs in the last five years and is populated heavily by immigrants. The city has faced "economic abandonment unparalleled to any other city in the U.S.," Irwin said.

After watching gangs move into the area and students get involved with illegal activity, Irwin and other community members decided to take action. They contracted a management firm to run the school and moved into an abandoned building that once housed a private catholic school.

The K-8 school now occupies two buildings and educates about 730 students. Although it makes some allowances for the predominately Latino/a student body - such as bilingual text books and English classes for parents - the school has a broad-based curriculum, Irwin said.

"We do not focus on one race," Irwin said. "We are about children."

But Irwin said people shouldn't be too quick to write off the Detroit public school system, adding that the problem isn't teachers who don't care, but a system that has become too large to manage.

"It's easy to throw rocks, but it's much harder to get in there and fix windows," Irwin said. "I think the Detroit public schools, given the independence (from the system's bureaucracy), could be a great school system."

03-17-99