LANSING – Great Lakes Education Project Executive Director Beth DeShone today asked the House and Senate to reject bills moved by the House Education Committee that punish teachers who educate children in public charter schools and attempt to make it harder for some public schools to meet the needs of parents and kids.
House Bills 5231, 5232, 5233, 5234 and 5269 target public charter schools with new costs, regulations and requirements that are not placed on traditional public schools, exacerbating inequalities between Michigan students based solely on the public school parents choose for their children.
“Michigan is blessed with thousands of public school teachers who educate kids in public charter schools, but every one of them came under fire today from House Democrats,” said DeShone. “A few politicians in Lansing are more interested in punishing parents and teachers for choosing which public school to send their kids to than they are in helping them read, write, and do math. That’s bad for teachers and it’s a disaster for students and their families.”
The bills are designed to limit the effectiveness of public charter schools by tying them up in red tape and regulations not-at-all related to classroom learning or education, while exempting traditional public schools from the same requirements. Additional costs associated with the bills also hamstring the public schools and limit their ability to invest in local teachers and other educational staff.
The Great Lakes Education Project is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization supporting quality choices in public education for all Michigan students. GLEP strongly supports efforts to improve academic achievement, increase accountability and empower parental choice in our schools.
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