As we learned from the Detroit Free Press series on the state’s charter industry, it collects $1 billion from taxpayers without producing better results than public schools for the state’s neediest children.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan acted to warn the authorizers of the state’s lowest performing charters that he was warning them they were “At Risk of Suspension.” This warning applied to 11 of the state’s 40 authorizers.

He said:

““We want all public schools to provide a quality education for Michigan’s kids,” Flanagan said. “I am using the authority provided me in state law to push for greater quality, transparency, and accountability for those who aren’t measuring up as charter authorizers.”

“The authorizers on the At Risk of Suspension list are being given until October 22 to remediate those deficiencies before Flanagan makes his final determination in November to suspend the authorizer’s chartering ability.

“If an authorizer were to be suspended, it would not be a death sentence, and we’re not closing down their existing charter schools,” Flanagan said. “They wouldn’t be out-of-business. They just won’t be able to open any new charters until their deficiencies are fixed and the academic outcomes of their schools are improved.”

So he won’t close down their failing schools, he just won’t let them open new ones.

Here are the authorizers:

“The charter school authorizers At Risk of Suspension are:

Detroit Public Schools
Eastern Michigan University
Education Achievement Authority
Ferris State University
Grand Valley State University
Highland Park Schools
Kellogg Community College
Lake Superior State University
Macomb Intermediate School District
Muskegon Heights Public Schools
Northern Michigan University

“Each of the named authorizer’s charter school portfolio; that is, all of its charters schools considered as a whole, is in the Bottom 10 percent of the state’s academic Top to Bottom list. They, likewise, have deficiencies in their contract and transparency requirements.”