Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.Michigan school districts would be able to bypass some state requirements to launch innovative programs that would otherwise be impossible to create, under legislation discussed Wednesday in Lansing.The legislation, House Bill 5983 and House Bill 5984, would allow districts to waive seat-time rules that establish how much time students must spend in school to receive state funding, as well as some graduation requirements.Such rules can stifle innovation, speakers told lawmakers during a hearing Wednesday of the House Education & Workforce Committee.“Some of the innovations that we want to try are at risk of going against existing state rules and regulations that can jeopardize our state aid, and none of us can afford to do that,” said Alena Zachery-Ross, superintendent of the Ypsilanti Community Schools. Zachery-Ross is among nearly 90 school district leaders who are part of the Future Learning Council, which meets monthly to discuss innovation.The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Nancy DeBoer, who chairs the committee and is a Republican from Holland, and Rep. Jimmie Wilson, a Democrat from Ypsilanti who is a vice chair of the committee.DeBoer said examples of the type of programming the legislation would encourage include career and technical education, work-based learning programs, internships, apprenticeships, job shadows, and competency-based education. “The legislation would create an incubator type environment for developing and incrementally improving instructional options that are needed for our students’ future and our state’s economy,” she said.“Our educators want to do this work,” said Dan Behm, executive director of Education Advocates of West Michigan, an organization that represents dozens of school districts in Kent, Ottawa, and Muskegon counties. “They want to innovate, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”But schools are dealing with a student engagement problem, Behm said. Students are excited to learn as young children, but the joy is diminished by the time they reach high school, he said. His organization randomly asked 28 students attending 28 different high schools in Kent, Ottawa, and Muskegon counties to describe high school in one word. Without hearing each other’s answers, he said, 22 of them responded: “Boring.”To make school less boring and more relevant, schools need to provide the prerequisite knowledge students need and teach skills that will serve students after graduation, he said.“Schools should be about providing a safe place to learn and practice what it is that adults actually do, and when we provide those opportunities in school, students are highly engaged,” Behm said. “We see this in the fine arts. Why? Because students are actually practicing with the tools that adults use. They’re practicing with the scores and the playbooks and everything that adults use.”Former Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, testified in support of the legislation, and DeBoer said former Gov. John Engler, also a Republican, attended the hearing and supported the legislation. In addition to Zachery-Ross, lawmakers heard support from several other superintendents, all of whom discussed their current efforts to innovate to try to meet students’ changing learning needs.Supporters pointed out that the legislation would provide flexibility to traditional school districts, intermediate school districts, and charter schools that volunteer to implement innovative ideas. Wilson said one of the features that was important to him was that innovation plans would need to be approved by both the local teachers union and school board.Two Democrats on the committee said that while they support the idea of innovation, they are concerned about equity and whether less-resourced districts, those who struggle to pass bond proposals, and those with heavy turnover of staff would be able to innovate in the same ways as their more well-resourced peers.“How can that challenge be met when a school district has to deal with those challenges versus a school district that’s on more stable ground?” asked Rep. Matt Koleszar, a Democrat from Plymouth. The goals are laudable, Koleszar said. But, “I want to make sure we are not accidentally or inadvertently creating groups of haves and have nots.”Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org.
