Authority and Evidence
Last week, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill to expand the Educational Achievement Authority beyond the city of Detroit. This is the most recent of a long line of conversations that educators, legislators and others have had over the years trying to build a path for struggling students, schools and communities to success.
Turning around the educational circumstances of our state does require that we focus some attention on the worst performers. It is important that we do put additional resources, time and attention to those with the farthest to go – that is what it takes to improve equity in outcomes. It is also important that we make sure that our efforts are steeped in what the research tells us will improve the educational circumstances of young people in our state.
Will shifts in who controls the decision-making for these students, schools and communities make a difference? Perhaps. Will shifts in control absent of other investment and strategy make a lasting difference? Not on your life. At the same time that the EAA conversation has been going on, we are facing more than a decade of state disinvestment and a failure to compensate for some particularly disastrous disinvestment from the federal government. While philanthropic investment is certainly a critical piece, there is no consistent community opportunity to raise funds to compensate for lost public sector resource.
As the Senate takes up this legislation, we urge them to consider the following:
We know that young people face barriers to educational success that one system alone can’t solve – not the education system alone, not communities alone, and certainly not individual school buildings alone. The Senate could include more direction about how resources to support extended learning, school-based health, positive behavior, and other services that have proven to increase student success would be targeted toward all schools facing restructuring demands.
Current actions that have diminished services for at-risk young people through cuts in the state budget are counter-productive to meaningful reform. Disinvestment in the very communities the EAA legislation is attempting to serve does not promote innovation, partnership and reform. Evidence-based support programs will need to be expanded in order to see real, sustainable improvement in school success for those most challenged schools, communities and young people.
Legislators can’t decouple the EAA conversation with the budget discussions in the Capitol over the next several months. The path to success for the lowest performing students, schools and communities is the same as it has always been: invest in proven strategies from cradle to career.
It is likely that the Senate Education Committee will take up this legislation quickly after returning from spring break. Contact your Senators and let them know what you know to be true to increase the success of kids and schools; let them know that there are successful programs around the state that are assisting in this effort already and that those programs need to be available to more struggling young people and their parents.
At the same time, the Legislature continues to debate funding levels for critical programs that support educational success. Those programs exist within the School Aid and Department of Education budgets, but they also exist within human services, health, workforce and higher education. Let your Senators and Representatives know that without other investment, the EAA will not be able to show the kind of gains necessary for our state.
Learn more about the EAA legislation and what’s left undone in our latest Issues for Michigan’s Children publication. To keep posted on the state budget process, visit our Budget Basics library.
-Michele Corey