Why Public School Supporters Should Decline Let Mi Kids Learn Vouchers
By now, we hope it has become largely clear that the attacks our school district has endured for the past year are directly tied to the efforts to pass the latest voucher scheme and support the candidacies of pro-voucher politicians up and down the ballot.
The scheme is called Let Mi Kids Learn, positioned as Student Opportunity Scholarships, and these plans will gut Michigan’s public education budget.
Collecting just 8% of eligible voters signatures by June 2022, Let Mi Kids Learn backers can advance this petition directly to legislators to vote into law instead of facing voters or the Governor’s veto.
This is why politicians and Let Mi Kids Learn are desperately creating all sorts of “crises” targeting our public schools to generate support. We cannot encourage these “opportunities” to take away billions from Michigan’s already underfunded public schools.
Why Support FHPS Opposes Let Mi Kids Learn
Summarized by Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University, “The Let Mi Kids Learn proposal is a new ballot initiative that would change Michigan’s tax laws to create tax credits for donors who support, among other things, private school tuition modeled after school voucher programs across the country.
According to Cowen, the proposal packages several good ideas — like support for tutoring, transportation, and after school programs — around one spectacularly bad one: tuition support for private schools. He points to data that these programs have generally been massively harmful to academic growth for poor children.
Michigan - and even Forest Hills Public Schools – cannot afford any budget cuts. The state ranks 23rd in per pupil spending and has not kept up with growth observed in other states. Our district’s attackers recently complained about being asked to supply post-it notes in the classroom, so this is a topic where we should fundamentally agree.
This is less about creating “choice” or opportunities for students and more about creating tax credits for wealthy donors and using public tax dollars to meet corporate interests.
Common Arguments FOR Private School Vouchers Are Rooted in Misinformation
Some argue that everyone pays taxes, and that per-pupil money should be used for whatever school they choose. Presently, it is unconstitutional in Michigan to use public tax dollars for religious private schools that discriminate students.
Further, some religious private schools in Grand Rapids are quite well-funded and contribute an average of $400,000 in tuition support for underserved families.
Another common argument focuses on Special Education.
Private schools that are part of the voucher program are not required to provide Special Education evaluations or services. They are not required to employ qualified special education teachers nor develop or implement Individual Education Programs (IEPs), unlike what the State of Michigan requires for its Schools of Choice program.
If students who need special education or other accommodations that the private voucher schools are unable to meet, they will most likely end up returning to their neighborhood schools even if their initial enrollment is accepted. The state “per pupil” money paid to the private school, however, will not return to the public school that remains responsible for educating the student.
If a family has lucked out by finding a program that meets their special needs via a private or charter program, that is wonderful but rare.
Beyond being built for the interests of wealthy, Progressive.org states “private school vouchers, in a nutshell, redirect public money to private institutions. They undermine the fundamental promise of a high-quality, equitable education for all students, as private schools often discriminate based on factors like religion, fluency in English, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Vouchers also drain resources from public schools, which are not only required to serve all students, but are also vital community hubs and local units of democratic government.”
The Pro-Voucher Movement is Already Hurting FHPS
We’ve been directly affected by dirty political tactics for over a year in the name of this petition.
We rallied together as a community to save Forest Hills Public Schools from losing $100,000 in a sham recall attempt and will not stand for attacks to risk more.
Both of our Forest Hills Public Schools attack groups are actively promoting Let Mi Kids Learn by helping to collect signatures, promoting the petition via public social media posts, and by encouraging parents to leave our district for private schools.
Naturally with so much at stake for FHPS students and educators, we were curious to learn what was behind not one but two attack groups forming in our town. Why would anyone be THIS upset with our top-ranked schools that they would file unreasonable lawsuits, sham recalls, and launch consistent verbal assaults in each Board meeting? According to LARA, the entity who filed to launch the attack groups is a religious private school parent working with the organization that shaped Let Mi Kids Learn. (Note that article is an op-ed written by the group advocating for Let Mi Kids Learn and heavily biased.) This is all publicly visible information that is being promoted by the entities based on the content shared here.
Students who attend Board meetings are not getting a chance to speak about relevant topics because outsiders attend to scream at the Board about manufactured crises.
Finally, we condemn efforts to politicize our non-partisan public schools and Board of Education. The district attack groups host petition signing events with fellow pro-voucher/anti public schools candidates and we have endured gubernatorial candidates attending our Board meetings to threaten cutting FHPS funding on “day one in office.” (Why School Boards should stay nonpartisan.)
How to Protect the Integrity of Forest Hills Public Schools
There are constructive actions our community can take to continue supporting Forest Hills Public Schools:
Decline to sign the Let Mi Kids Learn voucher petition (which is being circulated by paid professionals from Florida who are mischaracterizing the content). Explain to family, friends and neighbors why the vouchers hurt kids and our public school district.
Decline to sign manufactured recall petitions for Forest Hills Public Schools Board Members. We have an election coming up this fall. Recalls should be reserved for instances of malfeasance, and we cannot set this precedent simply because someone doesn’t agree or to create attention for vouchers.
Research and vote for pro public schools candidates from School Board up to Governor. Do not ignore any category during the primaries in August or general election in November 2022.
Help combat local misinformation. Review our handy guide to common talking points being used to paint public schools as failing to support the agendas of these pro-voucher groups.
Continue to keep the conversation local on relevant issues truly related to Forest Hills Public Schools and keep sharing the positive ways FHPS has influenced you and your family.