Last week, voters in Michigan repealed the state’s draconian emergency manager law, which allowed a hand-picked appointee of the governor to abolish public education in financially stressed districts. In two of those districts, the emergency manager turned the children over to for-profit charter chains.
To compensate for the repeal, the Legislature in Michigan plans to expand the powers of the Achievement Authority Chancellor. The Achievement Authority is a non-contiguous district into which the state will cluster all low-performing schools. It is currently headed by John Covington, who was trained by the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. Covington previously served as superintendent of Kansas City, where he proposed to close half the district’s public schools but resigned on short notice to take the higher-profile job in Michigan. Soon after his departure, Kansas City lost its state accreditation.
Under the new law, if it passes, Covington will have a free hand with the state’s lowest performing schools.
He will be the czar of the largest school district in the state of Michigan.
What will Covington do? Stay tuned.
The new law will wipe out all rights that employees previously had:
(B) A COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT APPLICABLE TO EMPLOYEES
16 WORKING AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BEFORE THE IMPOSITION OF THE
17 ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODEL SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONNEL
18 AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
19 INTERVENTION MODEL.
20 (C) AN EMPLOYEE WORKING AT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE
21 IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL INTERVENTION MODEL WHO WAS
22 PREVIOUSLY EMPLOYED BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OTHER THAN THE STATE
23 REFORM DISTRICT THAT PREVIOUSLY OPERATED THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SHALL
24 NOT ACCRUE SENIORITY RIGHTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR ACCRUE
25 CREDITABLE SERVICE UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT
26 OF 1979, 1980 PA 300, MCL 38.1301 TO 38.1437, WHILE WORKING AT THE
27 PUBLIC SCHOOL AFTER THE IMPOSITION OF THE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Colorful Local Commentary from Democracy Tree —
Michigan Lawmakers Work on Emergency Manager Franken-Bills, with Zombie Law in the Wings
Great link!!Thanks for posting it
Dr. Ravitch
I am a faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and an admirer of your work.
Perhaps you’ve seen this from the American Enterprise Institute: “Five Pathways to Fundamentally Reshaping American Schooling” — making the case for dismantling the whole system of public education:
The futures of school reform: Five pathways to fundamentally reshaping American schooling
Jal Mehta | American Enterprise Institute
November 14, 2012
Key Points
Bullet
Many efforts to reform American schooling over the past few decades have done little to address substantial student achievement gaps or improve the US educational ranking internationally.
Bullet
Existing efforts make limited headway because they do not seek to fundamentally change the core structure of American schooling.
Bullet
Substantial change is possible if reformers craft a longer-term strategy to alter the school system itself, and possible pathways include transforming, replacing, reassembling, expanding, or even gradually dissolving the system, all of which would require the courage to effect bold change.
Linda Kaboolian
Thanks for this. Typical rightwing privatization propaganda. What nation is he basing his recommendations on?
“…SHALL NOT ACCRUE SENIORITY RIGHTS IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OR ACCRUE CREDITABLE SERVICE UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ACT…”
Wow! What a deal. That will really bring in the top teachers!
Is anyone thinking this through? What do they really think will happen to these schools and these children?
I know people who have worked in these EAA schools and they are AWFUL!! The Detroit Free Press put out a puff piece on TFA in the EAA and the comments beneath the article clearly refuted the writer’s article. I don’t think the Michigan legislature really cares what happens to the children nor the staff members. But I’m sure some of their cronies will get rich from charters.
In related stories …
• Detroit teachers union to announce suit over layoffs today
• Detroit Public Schools board votes to cut ties to educational authority
“[S]ubstantial change is possible if reformers craft a longer-term strategy to alter the school system itself, and possible pathways include transforming, replacing, reassembling, expanding, or even gradually dissolving the system, all of which would require the courage to effect bold change.” {Jal Mehta at the American Enterprise Institute).
This bit of info posted by Linda Kaboolian, faculty member at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University pretty much raps it up. This is the ultimate goal: total dissolution of public schools. A nationwide corporate takeover by creating publicly funded, privately run charters (in keeping with the AEI’s corporatization efforts, objecting to big government, but taking the taxpayer dollar). The dissolution model moves forward with: the passage of a bill (slammed into passage by billionaires’ money, including Bill Gates’) consenting the development of charter schools in Washington state (with more to follow); the creation of the “Achievement Authority” in Michigan, “Zones of Innovation” in Hawaii [Read: Title I schools currently in restructuring which exist exclusively in high poverty areas becoming low lying fruit for public / private charter schools.]
And hundreds of other pro-charter school approvals being slammed through legislatures nationwide. Yep, that about raps it up. Maybe time to Occupy public schools?
The Corporate Totalitarian Agenda At Work …
“…all of which would require the courage to effect bold change.”
Yes, the courage to effect bold change with other people’s children.
This ‘Authority’ repeatedly tried to recruit me to come work for them. I declined the honor on the grounds that it would be no different from working for any number of for-profit run charter networks, sooner or later. I feel saddened and vindicated to have been right.
It’s a good thing you didn’t. I know people who went to work there and quit after a short period. The EAA in Detroit is awful.
This story is getting a lot of press on local channels. The Detroit teachers are suing the district for unfairly being terminated. A lot of the teachers were clearly their more senior staff members. The board is suing to get back the schools taken over by the EAA. Teachers are telling their stories.Snyder is trying to come up with a new law and ignore the public’s wishes. I feel sorry for the teachers who were terminated through unfair evals. One positive thing is that their stories are being told.
And here it is, the other shoe …
• State lays out plans for new EM law
wow – http://teacheaa.org/team.html
I knew something rang a bell – Seattle’s own Maria Goodloe-Johnson !!! She was a GREAT fit with Bill L’etat C’est Moi Gate$ and all his local toadie$ … until she got run out of dodge!
rmm
Help! We are in a mess in Michigan! We are trying to educate parents and spread the word about the negative effects of high stakes standardized testing. Along with all of the current legislation! When will you come to Michigan to help the good fight!!!!
I spoke to 86 district superintendents in Lansing just a few weeks ago. Their districts enroll 44% of the state’s public school students. I advised them to give the tests, share the results with teachers and parents, and throw them away. Use the results for help, not punishment.
They are well aware of the injury of high-stakes testing.
Diane, I am wondering if you know the answer to this question. Do TFA teachers get special protections when they go to teach in EAA schools? I know several regular certified teachers that went to work in the EAA and quit in a short time. I know others who want to quit. I also know one that was fired. I just wondered if they give the TFA teachers special treatment in order to save face? Do you know?
And the shoes just keep on thudding to the floor …
Michigan Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Zombies, Allows PA 72 to be Resurrected
Learn from Kansas City’s mistakes. You spoke – in another blog, that the superintendent of a southern system fired teachers and replaced them with 150 from Teach For America. The same happened in Kansas City – we fired 150 teachers without cause and replaced them with (drumroll) 150 Teach for America teachers at a cost of $3,000 per head. So it was with dismay that I discovered that a Teach for America sits on the board of Broad Institute. Is that not conflict of interest?
John Covington, when in Kansas City, created new graduation requirements so low that no competitive college would take a student with those minimal courses. He didn’t know basic college requirements stats, or the range of college placement scores to achieve acceptance.
He ruined a successful college prep program but closing the more modern of the two buildings (the one with wireless internet, a pool, two gyms and a larger cafeteria) and slamming 1200 sixth through twelfth graders in an antiquated with lacking those amenities.
In the other college prep campus, he bussed over a thousand at risk, low performing students into the building. In the first semester, the school at 1400 suspensions in the first semester (with only 1200 students in the building), 51 fires/fire alarms, and three principals. Covington’s last principal had only elementary school experience. In the principal’s defense, Covington was quoted in the paper saying “I don’t have urban experience and I think I’m doing pretty good.”
He cut the budget for a successful debate program that served hundreds of students claiming he didn’t have the funds, but then commissioned a massive $28,000 trophy out of his own discretionary budget which didn’t require board approval. KC didn’t want him, and weren’t told that Broad was likely funding part of his salary. He killed what little progress we’d made, interviewed on the basis of improvements that were actually accomplished by his predecessor (such as rising test scores for tests taken before he was hired), and then left abruptly – weeks before the State was ready to announce that under his leadership we had passed fewer benchmarks towards accreditation than when he was hired.
So read it an weep. We were conned. So are the residents of Michigan. The goal is not to improve a district – their goal is to break already struggling ones so they can enrich Private Schools, Charter Schools and Teach for America.
Our struggling district was on the mends, Covington came in and left us with a mess to clean up. Kansas City’s average ACT score is 14 to 16 out of a total of 36 possible points.
And one last thing – do you not find it suspicious that there were other candidates who dropped out only days before he arrived for his interview? And do you not find it suspicious that he lied to break his contract with KC knowing he had another job lined up?
Your governor knows more than he is telling. Which is why he wouldn’t initially explain which private foundation was helping to fund Covington’s salary. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Been there, done that. Notice no decent school district will have him. They can see through his obfuscation better than failing districts can.
Why doesn’t out Governor appoint a emergency manager to take over our inept house and senate, the perhaps they could hire new inexperienced politicians at much less pay and save our financially troubled state money. I mean if it works for the schools….