GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Sheila Schindler, mother of a Forest Hills schools student, didn't mince words when addressing members of Michigan's State Board of Education at a Grand Rapids community forum on Thursday.
"I think what's happening is fracturing our schools and community," Schindler said of multiple education reforms, the lack of funding, and the lack of local control. "The bottom line of a successful education is the relationship the kids have with their teacher and the resources the teachers have to meet reach the kids and meet their needs."
People want a simple answer to improving public education but it is an incredibly complicated problem, Schindler said during the forum at Grand Rapids Community College. Turning schooling into a free market with various choices isn't going to solve the problem, she said on Thursday, May 9.
The board has been holding a series of forums around the state last winter and this spring. Inadequate funding, the dangers of proposed legislation in Lansing, and teacher quality and evaluations were the primary topics in the forum that was attended by only a dozen people.
Most of the audience was made up of administrators, school board members, superintendents, and school staff, including Godrey-Lee Superintendent Dave Britten, Elizabeth Lykins, an East Grand Rapids school board member, and John Helmholdt, communications director for Grand Rapids schools.
"Nobody in this state has made an effort to determine what does it really cost to educate students, and nobody seems to want to make that effort," said Britten. "What is the cost for an adequate education for each student given their circumstance and the circumstances of the school they are attending, and what does it take for an equitable education?"
Britten said there's a school on the state's eastside that gets 84 percent more funding than Godfrey-Lee, which has the second highest limited English proficiency population in the state and the 54th highest rate of poverty. He said other states, including Pennsylvania and Minnesota, have conducted funding studies.
Lupe Ramos-Montigny, a former Grand Rapids schools administrator elected to the state board in November, said the funding is not fair, and she has been hearing about the inequities for 36 years. She said she wants the board to move beyond talking about the issue and change the system.
Helmholdt spoke to the board about how the state calculates the list that ranks schools based on achievement. He asked what the board is doing to make sure the list is calculated on more than one-size-fits-all test scores.
"That (Top to Bottom) list is inherently stacked against high needs, high poverty districts," he said. "It doesn't account for growth, poverty, percentage of special education students or English Language Learners."
John Austin, president of the State Board of Education, said Michigan's formula is similar to what other states are doing.
"I think it's a decent effort, certainly not perfect," said Austin, who said the public body can continue to probe and ask questions.
Lykins spoke to the board about her concerns about the Oxford Foundation choice proposals being discussed in Lansing. She urged the board to take a position.
"In the House version of the budget, we now are allowing up to two classes can be taken anywhere, any time, and the money follows the student," said Lykins, who said not only would school districts lose money but if the students performs poorly in a vendor's online course it would hurt test scores. "To me, that's the beginning of a slippery slope we've seen before."
Ramos-Montigny spent some time talking about teachers and the fear and anxiety many feel about new evaluations because it could be the end of their job. She said they should be fair and not used as a punitive tool.
"The teachers are the heartbeat of a school system," Ramos-Montigny said. "I am very concerned about the evaluation of teachers because when humans are involved a lot of biases can come into play."
Beside Austin and Ramos-Montigny, other board members who attended the forum were: Cassandra Ulbrich, vice president of the state board; Richard Zeile, treasurer; and Daniel Varner, secretary.
"The main purpose of this is to try to air out what should we be doing positive and what should be fighting and encouraging even more activity around," Austin said.