LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The Republican-led House narrowly approved legislation Thursday changing a state turnaround district that can take over the lowest-performing 5 percent of public schools, a year after it first approved a version that ran into resistance from GOP senators.
The bill, which passed 56-54 almost entirely along party lines, would allow no more than 50 schools in the statewide district at any time - more than the 15 now being run in Detroit. It would prioritize intervening in K-8 schools and prohibit new schools from being added until the 2015-16 academic year.
The plan now goes back to the Senate.
The legislation is controversial because the entity acting as the turnaround district - the Education Achievement Authority, which is running schools only in Detroit - has had its effectiveness questioned by critics but is strongly supported by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. State Superintendent Mike Flanagan recently terminated a contract giving the fledgling authority exclusive functions of the turnaround district, which helped the bill win approval Thursday from legislators who wanted alternative options.
The measure would enable intermediate school districts to manage low-performing schools instead of the state reform district if a school board asks. Intermediate school districts, or ISDs, are service agencies that help regular districts with special education and career and technical education programs, cut costs through shared functions, and assist with enrollment audits, teacher training and student assessment tests.
Empowering the county-level districts is important for some Republicans who argue that local interventions are better than state takeovers.
Under the legislation, a school could not be placed in the turnaround district unless it ranked in the bottom 5 percent of student test scores for two straight years. ISDs would have at least two school years to get the school off the lowest-performing list before the reform district steps in.
“Opposition to this bill means you are fine with these kids being locked in abysmally failing schools,” said Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills.
McMillin said he would be surprised if any additional schools would need to be moved into the Education Achievement Authority. He said he voted for the legislation after being assured that intermediate school districts could have a role.
Democrats, though, cited recent standardized test scores in calling the EAA a failure and said the bill would not prevent the state from adding more schools to it after the exclusive contract ends next year.
“It will come. It’s going to be across the state,” said Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids. “The term ’data-driven’ should be retired from the lexicon of this governor and House Republicans because it’s been rendered meaningless.”
Under a 2009 law signed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the lowest-achieving bottom 5 percent of schools - roughly about 150 schools - can be placed into a state school reform district if their “redesign” plan isn’t achieving satisfactory results.
After Snyder took office in 2011, the state transferred the turnaround district to the EAA, a new school system backed by the governor that was formed through an agreement between Detroit schools’ emergency manager and Eastern Michigan University.
The 15 EAA schools opened last academic year and have longer days, 500 more hours of class annually than usual, no grade levels and instruction tailored to individual students.
The legislation approved Thursday is partly an attempt to better define the state’s role in the “restart” model, when a low-achieving school is converted or closed and reopened. But for 16 months, the governor and his allies have had trouble getting a bill to his desk.
A key senator, Republican Phil Pavlov of St. Clair, said Thursday night that he needed to review House changes to the bill, which was approved by the Senate in December. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, said she hoped revisions would win over senators who remain skeptical about whether intermediate school districts are equipped to act as turnaround entities.
“There are no quick fixes in education,” Snyder said in a statement after the House vote. “We have more work to do. Turning around schools that have let down students and their families for many years cannot be done overnight.”
Five House Republicans voted against the bill, while a Democrat and independent - both from Detroit - supported it.
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House Bill 4369: https://1.usa.gov/OCi9Tg
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