DETROIT – The state of Michigan is putting out requests for proposals to find a company or companies to take over Education Achievement Authority (EAA) schools.
According to two state representatives, 31 schools are involved under this proposal. This is not Gov. Rick Snyder's plan. The Detroit Delegation in Lansing said they fell completely back-doored by this.
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The delegation was not in on any of the meetings about this proposal and they think the idea of chartering out the troubled schools is a bad one. On the flip side, no fixes have worked at the chronically underperforming schools.
State Representatives Brian Banks and Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, who head up the Detroit Delegation in the House, are furious about what's being floated.
"We were told that the 15 schools from the EAA would be charterized, and then 16 additional schools are going to be charterized for a total of 31. This is from someone who is privy to the information and they also forwarded the documents to us. So we believe this was a blatant attempt to just circumvent the process. All these things have been done behind (closed doors)," said Banks
Gay-Dagnogo said she believes this was a plan that wasn't shared with Detroit caucus members.
"This is a plan to do what many of the citizens in Detroit half expected to begin with. Really, to peel away at the existing schools within DPS and charter out the district similar to a New Orleans model," she said.
Dave Murray, a spokesman for Gov. Snyder, said this is not their plan and they were not aware of it. He issued this statement:
"Chartering the entire Detroit school system is not a part of the governor's plan to improve academics and finances in the Detroit schools."