“There is one fact upon which everyone agrees. The Detroit Public Schools has failed Detroit’s kids and Michigan’s taxpayers. Simply renaming the district won’t create better results. To that end, GLEP is very interest
ed in today’s introduction of a six-bill package to address education reforms in Detroit by key members of the House of Representatives,” said Gary Naeyaert, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP).
“GLEP supports reforms that address K-3 literacy; A-F letter grading and closure of chronically-failing schools; MPSERS reforms; flexibility in school calendars; alternative certification for teachers; and the prohibition of sick-out teacher strikes. In fact, GLEP believes these reforms should be adopted for all school districts — both traditional and charter – in the state. At the same time, we continue to oppose any financial bailout of DPS which is paid by the School Aid Fund as well as efforts to restrict or impede school choice,” Naeyaert continued.
“As to governance, we trust parents to make school choice decisions for their children, which is why we support a ‘Parent Trigger’ vote in each DPS building to determine whether each individual school will become part of the new traditional public school district or become an independent charter public school. Putting parents in charge should be our top priority,” Naeyaert concluded.
Additional information can be found at www.gophouse.com/puttingstudentsfirst.
