What other newspapers are saying: School choice may bring relief to frustrated Michigan parents
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School choice advocates in Michigan are harnessing the discontent parents and families have felt during the pandemic and are looking to turn that into more educational freedom. A new ballot proposal could help break through some long-standing barriers to choice.
Extended school closures, masking decisions and curriculum debates have put parents on edge, causing them to take a hard look at their neighborhood public schools.
In many cases, families aren't being served well.
The Let MI Kids Learn petition drive, which launched officially Wednesday, would create a scholarship program for qualifying students that puts parents in control of how and where their children go to school. The scholarships are intended for children most in need of assistance.
Betsy DeVos, former U.S. education secretary and Michigan's biggest school choice proponent, led a virtual discussion with parents and other stakeholders during the kickoff. She's also a financial supporter of the petition.
"I'm more fired up than ever," DeVos said.
The scholarships would be funded through private donations to scholarship-granting organizations, and those individuals who give would receive a tax credit. The program would be capped at $500 million in annual contributions.
The petition committee formed in response to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's veto last fall of nearly exact bills that Republicans fast-tracked through the Legislature.
The scholarship program is similar to the education savings account model that many states have taken up as a response to COVID's impact on schools. Roughly two dozen states have expanded or created new private school choice programs in the past two years.
Parents who qualify for a scholarship have wide leeway in how to spend it, including private or public school tuition, online learning programs, tutoring, textbooks, transportation, dual enrollment, child care or career and technical programs.
That's surely to be of interest to many families, who've experienced such significant learning disruptions during COVID.
As DeVos said during the event, it's hard to see how anyone could be opposed to a program designed to help kids and families in this way.
But Whitmer is, as she made clear with her veto. So are the teachers unions, which also hold a lot of political sway.
That's why the petition drive is necessary. If the campaign gets enough signatures (it needs more than 340,000), the measure will go back to the Legislature where it can approve it without fear of Whitmer's veto.
Another potential roadblock is the state constitution and its notorious Blaine amendment blocking any state funding for nonpublic schools. Supporters say the scholarships are designed in such a way they could comply with the constitution, but detractors say they wouldn't.
A legal challenge in federal court seeks to overturn that amendment, which could fully open the door for the scholarship program and others like it.
As we've learned during the pandemic, too many families were poorly served by their public schools. This measure would help get kids the tutoring and other services they need to get caught up.
-- Detroit News