CBS News in Detroit reported on the latest study by the Network for Public Education, which showed that more than one-third of charter schools close within the first five years. The NPE study is based on federal data. Most charter schools in Michigan operate for-profit. Please open the link to see the video.
(CBS DETROIT) — A new national report finds that more than one in four charter schools fail in their first five years. And by year 15, nearly half have closed. The numbers are even more stark in Michigan charter schools.
The report, “Doomed to Fail: An Analysis of Charter Closures from 1998-2022,” was done by the Network for Public Education. It found that 36% of Michigan charter schools closed within their first five years.
The state’s population is dropping, and traditional public schools are closing as well, but at about half the rate of Michigan’s charter schools.
“I’ve kind of looked at Michigan as the wild Midwest of the charter sector,” said Mitchell Robinson, an associate professor at Michigan State University and a member of the Michigan State Board of Education.
He said he wasn’t surprised by the report’s findings.
“When we treat education like banks and dollar stores and dry cleaners and McDonald’s franchises, that’s the kind of results we’re going to get.”
Robinson said charter schools popping up and closing soon after hurt students, teachers, and other schools, sometimes creating public school deserts.
“There are parts of Detroit where kids have to travel up to two hours a day to get to a school because charter schools have come in, public schools have closed, then the charter school closes, then there’s no school at all,” he said.
The report by the Network for Public Education analyzed charter school closures across the country from 1998 to 2022. They found Michigan faces its particular challenges as charter schools here have less oversight and can be big money makers.
“Seventy percent of the charter schools in Michigan are run by for-profit entities. That is the highest percentage in the nation,” said Carol Burris, the Executive Director of the Network for Public Education.
She said every charter school in Michigan must have an authorizer that oversees it, and that authorizer receives up to three percent of the state money that goes to the school.
“Now 3% doesn’t sound like a lot, but it really is,” said Burris. “One case in point, Walker Charter Academy; it’s a National Heritage Charter Academy school. It received about $7.8 million last year in state funding, so 3% of that is $234,000. Now Grand Valley is its authorizer; they have 62 charter schools. You start doing the math; you’re talking about between $10 million and $14 million a year. That’s a lot of money.”
The President of the Michigan Charter School Association was not impressed:
“I’m not sure I understand their assumptions or their basic premises because their conclusions don’t align,” said Dan Quisenberry, the President of Michigan’s Charter School Association.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
All these reports of our population dropping while at the same time there is this obsession with removing 15 million people from the country.
LikeLike
I predict occasional persecution that leads to many headlines and only occasional deportation.
LikeLike
Sounds about right, but who knows.
LikeLike
All charter schools do is diminish the capacity of public schools to deliver instruction efficiently as they are largely redundant. Subjecting young people to the whims of the so-called market creates chaos and uncertainty. It is a costly waste of public funds when such a large percentage of them are mismanaged, engage in shady business practices and fail after a few years. The waste of funds forces public schools into a permanent state of austerity with large classes and reduced services for students. States should be focusing on fully funding and improving their accountable public schools that serve all students. Privatization is a costly distraction.
LikeLike
there is great similarity in government and business in its relationship with the community. People in the south are often noted for brand loyalty, and it is a reputation well deserved. This leads to a population that always drinks a particular soft drink, drives a particular car, and votes for a particular party.
In education, this means extreme loyalty to a local school. Since sports is the intersection of community and school, sports is of great importance. In towns across America, and especially in the south, athletes are treated with status undeserved by any human being. Urban and suburban schools are somewhat different. Wealth makes it possible for parents of children not ready to compete athletically to choose private schools. These private schools soon morph into athletic academies.
If you are still with me, you are wondering what this has to do with the south. Much of the attempt to privatize in Tennessee has centered around urban areas, largely because the rural and micropolitan areas are very much supportive of their local schools. Recently, however, maga attempts to paint local schools as places where trans girls are pushing your kid off the team and where children need kitty litter in the restroom are successfully making consumers of Faux News believe this is a thing going on in their local, rural school.
More and more, out here in the country, people go to chain stores for gas and chain stores for groceries. Local communities are becoming increasingly suburban, rural housing filling spaces that were formerly reserved for cows and trees. And over the last decade, Trump signs.
LikeLike
I don’t like to be a nag, but does anyone need further encouragement to contribute to the Network for Public Education?” This is one of the most effective organizations in its field, I submit, and well worth a few bucks a month in support.
LikeLike
“There are parts of Detroit where kids have to travel up to two hours a day to get to a school“
It is not uncommon for rural students to travel an hour each way-to and from school. But for city residents that is absurd. Whatever happened to the neighborhood schools?
LikeLike
My kids had two hours of transportation each day when they were in elementary school.
LikeLike
“. . . said Dan Quisenberry“.
Hmm. . . I wonder if that is the former MLB pitcher?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I modeled my pitching motion off the Quiz in little league. Coaches hated it but it was fairly effective!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And more likely than not you still have your shoulder intact, eh!
LikeLike
Yes but probably because I moved to center field in high school.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For-profit charter schools appear to be the dark-side American dream: monetize public services, get rich quick, then fold up and leave towns and cities holding the empty bag.
LikeLike