Benson education plan: Up teacher pay, tackle absenteeism, change constitution

Gubernatorial candidate Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is releasing a wide-ranging education plan calling for more pre-K, career tech and service opportunities
She is pitching a statewide effort to tackle absenteeism
Benson is the leading Democratic candidate for the governor’s race

Democratic gubernatorial contender Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is pushing to expand pre-K to all 3-year-olds, set a minimum teaching salary of $60,000 and create a statewide plan to address chronic absenteeism.

The three proposals are some of the key elements of Benson’s education plan, which she released Thursday.

Benson said she wants to make Michigan a top 10 state for education. In 2015, leaders set a goal of being a top 10 state in 10 years but Michigan is not there yet.

Several Michigan education metrics are low: Fourth grade reading scores rank 44th on a national assessment, nearly 28% of K-12 students are missing 10% or more of the school year and many high schoolers graduate without being college or career ready.

“We cannot become the economic engine of the Midwest that I know we can be if we don’t have a school system that meets the moment,” Benson told Bridge Michigan. “And as a daughter of special education teachers, as a former teacher myself, and as a mom who sees every day how every moment that we don’t improve our schools is a moment where we’re losing kids to a system that’s not adequately preparing them for the future.”

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Benson’s plan also calls for ensuring that by the end of 10th grade, students have “high-quality post-secondary pathways.” She also wants to give stipends to students who give a summer or year of service to nonprofits, or state and local governments.

“My goal is to ensure that holding a diploma from a public school in Michigan means that our students are ready to compete with the best of the best all over the world, and that they’re college or career-ready,” Benson said.

Benson is running against fellow Democrat Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.. On the Republican side, Former Attorney General Mike Cox, US Rep John James, business leader Perry Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and Pastor Ralph Rebandt are running.

Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who was running as an independent, dropped out of the race last week.

You can view Benson’s full education plan here.

Building on Whitmer initiatives

Many aspects of Benson’s plan would continue signature efforts of the Whitmer administration or require buy-in from the Legislature.

For example, Benson wants to expand statewide a no-strings attached cash assistance effort for pregnant women and babies called RxKids, a program that House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has criticized.

Benson’s plan to “ensure that high-quality pre-kindergarten is available to all 3- and 4-year-olds,” aims to “build a mindset that formal learning starts long before kindergarten.” Currently, 4-year-olds can attend pre-K tuition-free in schools and community organizations like child care centers or churches. The state offers a pilot program for 3-year-olds. Child care providers warn that as the state expands pre-K, businesses currently providing care to infants and toddlers could be priced out.

Michigan’s education crisis is a top issue among respondents to the Bridge Listens survey, an unscientific effort to capture what residents care most about in the upcoming election.

Several groups are aiming to overhaul the state’s high school graduation requirements, arguing students need to be more prepared when they leave high school.

Only 54.6% of high school graduates from the class of 2025 enrolled in college within six months, a slight drop from the year before, according to preliminary state data released this month.

Switching up how education policy decisions are made

“I think her plan is quite bold,” said former interim State Superintendent Sheila Alles, who was briefed on the plan ahead of Thursday’s announcement. “I think it is also quite ambitious, and I think it’s courageous,” who added it’s a “good start for the type of systemic changes that Michigan needs.”

Senate Education Chair Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, told Bridge it’s clear that Benson “listened to teachers.”

When asked what she would want to work on with Benson first, Polehanki compared the education plan to a charcuterie board where she likes all the foods.

“I like it all. Let’s tackle teacher pay first and let’s tackle early literacy, second.” She said continuing “equitable school funding” would be her third priority.

Michigan starting teacher pay ranks 44th nationwide at $41,645. Michigan fares better when it comes to its average teacher pay of $69,067 which ranks 19th among states, according to an analysis from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative

House Rep. Matt Kolezar, D-Plymouth, told Bridge that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has made school funding improvements but more needs to be done.

“And I appreciate the fact that those investments are what the Secretary is talking about.”

One state, one strategic plan

Benson said the state should have a strategic education plan that includes “tracking and engaging every single one of our 800 school districts with a clear timeline for implementation and responsibility.”

She hopes to tackle chronic absenteeism, a topic Alles said has not been a focal point for state leaders. While other states have tried to address absenteeism through policy changes, a Bridge investigation found that Michigan school districts are left on their own to develop attendance strategies.

Benson is also pushing a change in the State Constitution to “enshrine a constitutional right to high quality education in Michigan.”

She said it’s a “small piece of a larger vision of accountability” where the governor is responsible for the educational outcomes of the state.

Michigan has more than 800 school districts, including traditional school districts, charter schools and intermediate school districts. Voters select partisan Board of Education members in statewide elections. Those members hire and fire the state superintendent, who is not directly accountable to the governor’s office.

Former State Superintendent Michael Rice told lawmakers last year that local control had hampered early literacy efforts.

“We have a local control system run amok in the state. We’re proud of our local control system until it doesn’t produce the results that we wanted to produce.”

Republican contender John James is also pushing for a constitutional amendment aimed at improving education outcomes. His proposal would allow the governor to appoint the state superintendent.

The Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, has yet to endorse in the gubernatorial election.

Changing up how schools are funded

Benson said she wants to dedicate the state’s School Aid Fund for only preK-12 efforts and find a separate funding mechanism to pay for community colleges and public universities.

K-12 groups repeatedly decry using the School Aid Fund to pay for higher education expenses. For more than a decade, the fund has been used to help pay for community college and public universities.

Benson is also pushing for Michigan to provide more funding for special education services, and her plan refers to a report from the Autism Alliance of Michigan and Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency outlining how Michigan should overhaul its special education funding system.

Benson’s plan also includes establishing “a statewide public, transparent, audit process to understand how funding is being spent and ensure resources are being used efficiently and effectively to achieve necessary outcomes.”

How to fund these programs

Benson said she is “steadfast against” raising taxes on the middle class to pay for the education plan.

As more states opt into a federal program that would provide tax credits for those who donate to scholarship-granting organizations, Benson is waiting for more information. Critics say the federal tax credit scholarship program is a backdoor way to divert public resources into private education while advocates say it’s a way to get more money to help children succeed.

Benson said she is waiting to see what Gov. Gretchen Whitmer does on the federal tax credit scholarship program and the details from the federal government.

“I’m deeply opposed to allowing any dollar of public funding to go to private education and private schools. And from my standpoint, ensuring that we are able to fully fund and provide all the resources needed for our public schools and invest in public education, is goal number one.”

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