LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, issued the following statement after the Senate Committee on Education approved bills that would have a dramatic negative effect on charter schools and their ability to operate in Michigan:
“I simply cannot believe what occurred in today’s Education Committee. We literally watched the committee chair attack the entire premise of for-profit corporations, the bedrock of the American economy and the source of innovation that made us a great nation. These bills lash out against our state’s charter school system. If they are enacted into law, make no mistake, many charter schools will likely close their doors, taking away successful options for parents and their children.
“Remember that in 1999, public schools in Detroit were so badly mismanaged and the outcomes were so dreadful that the state took control of the entire district. Today, more than 50% of all public school students in Detroit attend charter schools, many of which hire outside contractors to run the schools and manage the facilities. These charter schools have the best results in all of Detroit and have been critical to helping turn around that previously failing educational system.
“Under the proposals outlined in committee, charter schools will face onerous additional scrutiny beyond anything that vendors of traditional public schools experience when it comes to their operations and facilities. One bill goes so far as to dictate that charter school operators cannot even own their own property, while also completely ignoring the fact that unlike traditional public schools, charter schools have no mechanism for raising millages for school facilities.
“Many parents in our state have made their voices clear: They want these options to be available. To me, this is nothing more than legislating winners and losers, and it is based on a false narrative. I find the implication from the chair of the committee that charter schools only exist for the purpose of robbing the taxpayers both offensive and misleading.
“A contentious committee hearing where members’ questions were scoffed at and disregarded is not an acceptable way to govern. Transparency requires discussion and debate, and that’s not what we were presented with during the committee hearing this afternoon. I voted no on these bills after the committee hearing and will vote no on them again when they reach the full Senate.”
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