Once again, Bay Mills Tribal Community College, a small college on an American Indian reservation in Michigan, seems to be in a favorable position in the ongoing debate over charter schools in the state. However, the battle is far from over. The college has become a target of charter school critics due to a unique loophole in state law that allows it to be the only higher learning institution in Michigan that can authorize new charter schools. Losing this loophole would be a rare political setback for the Bay Mills Ojibway Indians, who established the college with 680 students and sought to gain a powerful ally in former Gov. John Engler by supporting charter schools.
The state legislature will have the opportunity to address this loophole and other charter school issues when it reconvenes this month. Currently, the college has authorized two operating charter schools and has granted a charter for another school to open on the reservation this fall, as well as seven others across the state. According to current law, the college has the ability to authorize an unlimited number of these independent public schools. However, the college has faced criticism for its ability to effectively oversee these geographically spread out charters. Some also accuse the tribe of using charters for financial gain and political favoritism towards their business interests. Alan J. Short, the director of government affairs for the Michigan Education Association, claims that the college pays little attention to these schools and is only interested in making money.
Tribal leaders dismiss claims of opportunism and assert that their chartering power provides new opportunities for children, including those from the tribe. Michael C. Parish, the president of Bay Mills College, states that they are taking their time to do things correctly and hope to incorporate Native American culture into the schools’ curriculum. Tribal leaders claim that they are willing to accept limitations on their power if revisions are made to the state’s charter school law. However, critics argue that as long as the loophole exists and new charters can be authorized, they have little influence to initiate a debate on revising charter policy.
The reason the Bay Mills Ojibway Indians started chartering schools is because they have been trying for years to establish their own school, explains tribal Chairman L. John Lufkins. The tribe believes that having their own school will help combat the high dropout rate among local students and provide a more culturally sensitive education for Indian children. Mr. Lufkins states that the tribe has started paying more attention to state education policy to prepare tribal members for various business and social services offered by the tribe. This includes businesses like the Wild Bluff golf course near the tribe’s two casinos and hotel. The tribe wants control over their children’s education to ensure they can learn without prejudice or feelings of inferiority. Mr. Lufkins hopes that the charter school will help alleviate these fears surrounding education.
Some also attribute the tribe’s interest in charter schools to their political alliance with former Governor John Engler, a Republican. Michigan’s 1993 charter school law granted state universities the authority to approve charter schools statewide. Due to the fact that Bay Mills’ service area covers the entire state, it is the only community college with this power, states Richard D. McLellan, who played a role in drafting the law as an adviser to Governor Engler. Mr. McLellan, who later became the tribe’s legal adviser, is a political ally of Governor Engler’s. However, there was uncertainty about whether a federally chartered school like Bay Mills could authorize a precollegiate public school. In 2000, GOP lawmakers successfully amended the law to clarify the college’s authority to authorize charter schools.
Furthermore, Tom Shields, who is Mr. Engler’s pollster and also the head of a political-consulting and public relations firm in Lansing that represents the tribe, introduced tribal leaders to another one of his clients, Mosaica Education Inc., which is a charter school management group based in San Rafael, California.
This move by Bay Mills College and its advisers to grant charters to Mosaica in 2001 puzzled outsiders, as there seemed to be no apparent connection between the state’s Indians and the schools, which were located hundreds of miles away from the college. Tribal leaders clarified that they wanted to secure their chartering rights before approaching the potentially more complicated case of a charter school on a reservation. The affiliation with Mosaica and charter school advocates also provided the tribe with allies in other political battles. However, the protests about Bay Mills’ decision to open charter schools far from the reservation in 2001 were only a prelude to the ensuing debate.
In response to the college’s announcement that it would approve up to twelve charters, state schools chief Thomas W. Watkins expressed his strong opposition. When the paperwork for seven of the proposed schools reached his desk, he deliberately delayed the process. Watkins argued that the schools needed to be more accountable, and his department lacked the resources to oversee the charter authorizers effectively. In an interview, Watkins stated that, despite the letter of the law, most state lawmakers never intended for Bay Mills College, a small community college operated by Native Americans, to have the same chartering authority as Michigan universities. After discussions with state leaders, Watkins eventually backed down.
The next course of action now lies with the legislature, which will reconvene in mid-August after a summer recess and address two charter bills currently in a conference committee. First-year Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, has indicated that she would veto any bill that significantly increases the number of charter schools without demanding substantial improvements in accountability.
Amidst the ongoing debate, Bay Mills College remains steadfast in its pursuit of charter schools in Michigan. The community college recently hired Patrick M. Shannon, a former county prosecutor and public school administrator, to lead and develop its chartering operation. Out of the eight new schools, three will be managed by Mosaica, including the Bay Mills Ojibway School, while four will be overseen by other educational management organizations, one of which has faced issues in Texas and Georgia. These ventures will undoubtedly be closely monitored.
Critics voice concerns about Bay Mills College, a relatively small institution that is geographically distant from most of the schools it charters, having difficulty adequately evaluating and supporting the work of those schools. Others worry that the college’s involvement may lead to more schools being chartered under a law that grants excessive power to the for-profit management organizations that dominate Michigan’s charter school system. For instance, David N. Plank, an education professor at Michigan State University who studies Michigan charter schools, highlights the possibility of a management company recruiting a school’s required board, resulting in a lack of accountability on the company’s part if they own the school building.
While choice is generally regarded as positive, the issue with Michigan’s charter school law is the lack of clearly defined lines of accountability.