FLANAGAN WOULD WELCOME ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY ON SCHOOLS
Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan said he would welcome the additional authority Governor Jennifer Granholm had proposed to allow him to close failing schools, but warned it would have to be carefully used.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act provides for schools that do not meet adequate yearly progress goals for eight years to be potentially shut down. But there are not provisions in state law that would allow that option for this state.
"They just keep not making AYP," Mr. Flanagan said.
He said it was important to rest the power in a single person like the superintendent. "It's got to be a single person willing to take the heat," he said.
And he expected any such decisions would cause heat. "I need to be willing to do it and I need to be willing to leave," he said.
But State Board of Education members, who hired him, would likely back his school closure decisions. "I certainly have wanted us to be more serious about closing those schools that are not making improvements," said board Vice President John Austin (D-Ann Arbor). "I want us to have a plan."
But he said it was also important to implement the small high schools and other proposals Ms. Granholm recommended to help those schools improve.
Board President Kathleen Straus (D-Bloomfield Township) argued in many cases the small high schools would be the result of closing or restructuring a school that was failing. "They would close the school and open a new one, which is probably a good idea," she said. "Those are the kids that most need the intervention."
But Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association, warned that in many instances it would not be realistic to close a school even if it is not making AYP.
"Just coming in and closing a school in a community, what are you going to do to replace that?" she said. In a smaller community, "They may have one high school and it may not be functioning."
Ms. Salters also warned that the small high school plan could need more funding than the startup grants Ms. Granholm has proposed. "When you talk about a high school like the size they are in Detroit, you break that up, you have additional costs with that, recurring costs," she said.
James Sandy with the Michigan Business Leaders for Education Excellence argued many of Ms. Granholm's goals could be achieved without the funding and other programs she proposed Tuesday.
"It's just a matter of will: If they want to do it, they will do it," Mr. Sandy said. "There some on the education side who say we need more money, we need more resources, we need more time."
William Mayes, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, agreed that in some districts, the changes could be made on pure willpower. But he said in other districts they would need the additional assistance Ms. Granholm proposed. "The benefits will far outweigh any of the costs," he said.
And he said the changes allowed under the small high school program might not be simple in some schools and some buildings. "I firmly believe the principal needs to have the ability to bring a group of people together to work to change the culture of a building," he said. But he said in some districts that could take some outside support to work.
