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Written By: Chris Christoff - Detroit Free Press
11:53 P.M. April 25, 2011
Snyder says teachers should have more flexibility to teach
He says schools must be held accountable
EAST LANSING - Michigan's public schools need to more rigorously measure students' academic growth, but with fewer state rules to make that happen, Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday.
Also, state schools Superintendent Michael Flanagan called for a virtual deregulation of schools, such as eliminating minimum number of hours or days students must attend each year.
That's a change Snyder hinted he'll include in his special message on education Wednesday. He said the state should give teachers and schools and the state more flexibility to teach and to lift all students to higher academic standards.
Snyder gave a preview of his upcoming message when he told several hundred school officials from around the state that too many students aren't learning basic reading and math skills, and fare dismally on standardized tests.
He said he will call for changing a public school system designed for agrarian or heavy industrial societies that are being overtaken by a more high-tech world.
"It's a future world of world competition and the need to leverage technology and innovation," Snyder said at the 16th Annual Governor's Education Summit.
Flanagan told the gathering that there should be less top-down state management of schools. Afterward, he said getting rid of such state mandates as the required minimum of 1,098 hours of class time for students each year is an example.
Instead, schools would set their own guidelines for students to meet state academic goals.
"My goal is to take away as many regulations as we can but hold people accountable for academic growth - a year's growth for every year they're in school," Flanagan said.
More autonomy
Snyder said teachers and individual schools should have more autonomy in how they meet academic goals, though he didn't say what the specific goals would be. He said all school districts should have "dashboards," a continuing measurement of academic progress - or lack of it - that the public can view online.
"We have to put much more emphasis on proficiency, on growth, on measurements and results than we have had in the past," he said. "It's about really delivering results for these kids, to show the whole system needs to be geared to say each child gets a good year's education each and every year."
He said teachers and administrators must be given more incentives and training to improve the schools."The way to approach it is not to get down on people, it's not to approach it with blame," he said. "It's not be negative with one another. It's about how we look to the future and be positive and build on that as an opportunity to succeed together."
Cuts proposed
The governor has proposed cutting school district funding by $300 per student in addition to a $170 per-student cut that already was in place when he took office. The $170 cut was filled with federal money for many districts this year, but the federal funds won't be available for the upcoming school year, leaving districts to absorb a $470 per-student cut.
Snyder wants to cut $300 per student so he can use the money to pay for community colleges and universities out of the school aid fund rather than the general fund. That idea isn't going over well with some GOP lawmakers who control the budget process.
Democrats argue any cuts will send scores of Michigan school districts to the brink of insolvency next year, and that Republicans are using money for community colleges and universities that should be going to K-12 school districts.
"I think the most important thing that we can do as a state, to move us forward, is to continue to invest in our kids' education," Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing said Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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