Opinion | Give Michigan school reforms time and money to succeed

Bridge Michigan recently published a series of articles questioning the effectiveness of Michigan’s public schools and promoting comparisons to states like Mississippi. As both a policy maker and former teacher, I welcome scrutiny — but it must be accompanied by context and a commitment to solutions that actually work.

I began my teaching career in Detroit Public Schools in 2011, which historically was one of the hardest times to be a teacher in Michigan. Working in one of the most challenged districts in the state, I read helplessly as “reform” after “reform” rolled out of the administration of then-Gov. Rick Snyder. Instead of helping, these changes derailed educational opportunities for my students. Soon, things got worse. Students fell further behind. Teachers’ pay and benefits shrank. Despite the resilience of students and teachers, we were trapped in an impossible system.

My experience with these failed reforms is what ultimately drove me to run for office. I’ve spent my time in Lansing working both to undo the damage and enact policies that provide a truly enriching education. But the truth is that good policy takes time and investment to see results, and Michigan schools have not had the chance to see either with consistency the last 15 years.

While it’s true that overall spending on our classrooms is up in recent years, Michigan’s investment in public education is less than what it was 20 years ago when adjusted for inflation. When that investment dipped, so did test scores. 

During the two years I chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the School Aid Budget, we began the work to try and rectify this deficit. But two years of increased spending, does not undo two decades of disinvestment.

So what does work? Policy that supports students and encourages deep learning and is given years to implement, and predicted, equitable funding. Michigan has a clear direction to get there. 

In 2018, a group of educators, business leaders and other stakeholders worked together through the School Finance Research Collaborative (SFRC) to determine the true cost to adequately educate every student in Michigan. After adjusting for inflation, the updated 2021 study recommended base per-pupil funding at $10,421; well below what had been allocated for the last two decades, to say nothing of the additional needs for special education, English language-learners, at-risk students and those needing transportation in rural areas. 

In all, we are underfunding our schools by approximately $4.5 billion to $5 billion a year. 

Policy has not fared much better. The state has bounced around from the latest reform-of-the-week, ignoring educators when we know in advance something won’t work and failing to change course to prevent lasting damage. And what is proposed, however highly lauded, often lacks context. For example, Bridge published an article comparing Michigan to Mississippi that seemed to suggest we look there to learn lessons from the state’s recent improvements.

Yet those reforms were already tried (and failed) here, and those reading gains for fourth-graders in Mississippi were lost by the time they reached 8^th grade. And, while science of reading adaptation has certainly helped improve outcomes in Mississippi, Michigan only passed similar legislation last year, and it will be years until we see the impact of it. 

No doubt, our student academic performance should be better, and too many students still lack the support they need. But that is the result of years of disinvestment, mismanagement and constantly changing reforms.

I became a teacher to serve students. I ran for office to fight for schools. After years of damage, we’ve started to turn the corner. If we want our children to succeed, we need to stop chasing quick fixes and commit to what works: consistent investment, educator-informed reform, and the time and trust to let both take root. That’s the story we need to write together—for Michigan’s kids, and for our future.

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