McClellan, the writer of Governor Engler’s school choice and charter school laws which were intended to help break up
the Detroit monopoly, as the people in Lansing call it, is one of the most important visionaries in the State. With the
breakup of the monopoly, "Now the pendulum is swinging back to a much more control and command of Detroit schools,"
McLellan said, in the Detroit News article.
Charter Schools Replace Public Schools
Image Courtesy: Detroit Charter Data
McClellan is right that the Governor, and those who share his ideology, have taken control and command of
Detroit Public Schools, its properties, staff and the minority community which depends on it. Through the
schools location in neighborhoods, the Governor also has control and command over many aspects of our daily
life in the community.
That said, according to a yearlong investigation by the Detroit Free Press, published in June 2015, Michigan’s
lax oversight of charters, has enabled a range of abuses in a system now responsible for more than 140,000
Michigan children statewide, mostly concentrated in Detroit. While there are good charter schools, The Free
Press article also describes:
“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
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