Report finds 36% of Michigan charter schools fail in first five years
(CBS DETROIT) — A new national report finds that more than one in four charter schools fail in their first five years. And by year 15, nearly half have closed. The numbers are even more stark in Michigan charter schools.
The report, "Doomed to Fail: An Analysis of Charter Closures from 1998-2022," was done by the Network for Public Education. It found that 36% of Michigan charter schools closed within their first five years.
The state's population is dropping, and traditional public schools are closing as well, but at about half the rate of Michigan's charter schools.
"I've kind of looked at Michigan as the wild Midwest of the charter sector," said Mitchell Robinson, an associate professor at Michigan State University and a member of the Michigan State Board of Education.
He said he wasn't surprised by the report's findings.
"When we treat education like banks and dollar stores and dry cleaners and McDonald's franchises, that's the kind of results we're going to get."
Robinson said charter schools popping up and closing soon after hurt students, teachers, and other schools, sometimes creating public school deserts.
"There are parts of Detroit where kids have to travel up to two hours a day to get to a school because charter schools have come in, public schools have closed, then the charter school closes, then there's no school at all," he said.
The report by the Network for Public Education analyzed charter school closures across the country from 1998 to 2022. They found Michigan faces its particular challenges as charter schools here have less oversight and can be big money makers.
"Seventy percent of the charter schools in Michigan are run by for-profit entities. That is the highest percentage in the nation," said Carol Burris, the Executive Director of the Network for Public Education.
She said every charter school in Michigan must have an authorizer that oversees it, and that authorizer receives up to three percent of the state money that goes to the school.
"Now 3% doesn't sound like a lot, but it really is," said Burris. "One case in point, Walker Charter Academy; it's a National Heritage Charter Academy school. It received about $7.8 million last year in state funding, so 3% of that is $234,000. Now Grand Valley is its authorizer; they have 62 charter schools. You start doing the math; you're talking about between $10 million and $14 million a year. That's a lot of money."
However, not everyone finds the report's data convincing.
"I'm not sure I understand their assumptions or their basic premises because their conclusions don't align," said Dan Quisenberry, the President of Michigan's Charter School Association.
He said more and more parents and teachers are turning to charter schools, saying across the state, charter school academic performance is up, as well as charter school enrollment.
"Not a criticism, but population in Michigan is declining; enrollment in our public schools is declining, but not in charters," he said. "Parents are looking for something different, the thing that fits their student well."
