[nfbmi-talk] the future of education for children with disabilities

[Terry D. Eagle]

Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of
Education

in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit
Free Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal
role

in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland
native. Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record
with education

before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers
pour

nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
accountability

in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found
wasteful

spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to
operate

for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter
schools

run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure
laws.

Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in
early December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out
DeVos'

role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos
as

a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But

that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making
table.

In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby
has referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during
questioning)

on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public
schools. But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too
much

can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key
component of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has
been telling

us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on
their promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among
data

to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers

the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same

authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won
bipartisan

approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying
organization,

has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with
impressive and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle:
$1.45 million

in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a
day. The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after Republican

members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter
schools

in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free
Press review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those
open

more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for
when

to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that
they must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's
charter

school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in
poverty.

In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation
with

a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick
Devos,

husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.

 

Betsy DeVos and Detroit charter schools: What you need to know Detroit Free
Press Betsy DeVos may have been an unexpected nominee for Secretary of
Education

in the Donald Trump administration, but she's no stranger to the Detroit
Free Press. For decades, we've covered DeVos, her family and her personal
role

in the creation of Detroit's charter school program. She is a Holland
native. Here's a reading list to help you understand'DeVos' track record
with education

before becoming the nominee. Our latest work: A yearlong investigation
published by the Detroit Free Press in June 2014 showed Michigan taxpayers
pour

nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools ' but state laws regulating
charters are among the nation's weakest, and the state demands little
accountability

in how taxpayer dollars are spent and how well children are educated. In
reviewing two decades of charter school records, the Free Press found
wasteful

spending and double-dipping; board members, school founders and employees
steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders; schools allowed to
operate

for years despite poor academic records; no state standards for who operates
charter schools or how to oversee them; and a record number of charter
schools

run by for-profit companies that rake in taxpayer money and refuse to detail
how they spend it, saying they're private and not subject to disclosure
laws.

Michigan leads the nation in schools run by for-profits. In a column in
early December, Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson laid out
DeVos'

role in creating the state's charter school industry, and her unwavering
loyalty to choice at all costs. We methodically made the case against DeVos
as

a national education leader. Henderson writes: 'DeVos is a believer, and a
powerful influence wielder for the special interest she has championed. But

that doesn't make her the right pick to helm an entire arm of the federal
government. Wealth should not buy a seat at the head of any policy-making
table.

In a subsequent column, Henderson highlights a study that the charter lobby
has referenced repeatedly (which DeVos referenced Tuesday night during
questioning)

on the performance of charter schools compared with traditional public
schools. But even the authors of that study at Stanford University say too
much

can't be read into its results. 'Henderson writes: 'Research is a key
component of the nation's education infrastructure, and that research has
been telling

us for years that charter schools in Michigan have not yet delivered on
their promises. DeVos' record shows she's willing to pick and choose among
data

to make a point, but not to tell the fuller, more nuanced stories about how
choice falls short. And earlier in the year, Henderson explains to readers

the breadth of the donations the DeVos family made to legislators who gutted
legislation that would have placed Detroit's charter schools under the same

authority as traditional public schools to oversee quality control and make
sure schools are placed where they are needed. It was a plan that won
bipartisan

approval in the state Senate. And unraveled in the state House. Henderson
writes: 'The DeVos family, owners of the largest charter lobbying
organization,

has showered Michigan Republican candidates and organizations with
impressive and near-unprecedented amounts of money this campaign cycle:
$1.45 million

in June and July alone ' over a seven-week period, an average of $25,000 a
day. The giving began in earnest on June 13, just five days after Republican

members of the state Senate reversed themselves on the question of whether
Michigan charter schools need more oversight. Poor-performing charter
schools

in Michigan continue to get renewed, time after time. According to a Free
Press review, almost two-thirds of Michigan's oldest charter schools, those
open

more than a decade, are in the bottom half of state rankings. Many critics
point a finger at authorizers and the state, which sets no standards for
when

to close a school. Authorizers defend themselves vigorously, saying that
they must give schools every chance to succeed. Two decades into Michigan's
charter

school experience, it's clear that some schools excel academically, others
don't - and charters have not found the key to educating children in
poverty.

In other words, their results are similar in many ways to the traditional
public schools they hoped to outperform. It's the combination of aviation
with

a more traditional high school curriculum that attracts students to West
Michigan Aviation, a charter high school in Grand Rapids founded by Dick
Devos,

husband of education secretary nominee Betsy Devos.