By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

MIDLAND, Mich. – Several Michigan school districts might qualify as financial and academic disaster areas, if such designations existed.

The districts of Detroit, Pontiac, Highland Park and Buena Vista are all suffering from chronic budget deficits and abysmal student achievement.

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Detroit Public Schools’ problems are legendary and nationally known.

The problems of the other three districts are less well-known to Americans – and certainly won’t be mentioned in the “Pure Michigan” PR ad campaign.

But throughout the state, a kind of philosophical debate has emerged between education reformers and public school apologists.

It’s the K-12 version of the great chicken-egg debate, though with far greater ramifications: Are these districts dysfunctional because they don’t have enough money, or are they out of money because they’re dysfunctional?

It’s not difficult to guess which side of the debate the teacher unions and their pro-establishment friends are on. They argue loudly that Michigan’s K-12 system is underfunded, which results in severe budget cuts – fewer teachers, aides and classes – that undermine student learning.

Audrey Spalding of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has the exact opposite view.

In a recent commentary for MichiganCapitolConfidential.com, Spalding contends that the failing districts’ twin crisis – not enough cash and low levels of student learning – are the results of chronic mismanagement.

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“School districts do not simply find themselves one day without any cash on hand,” Spalding writes. “It takes years of financial (not to mention academic) mismanagement to get to the point where (these) districts have placed themselves.”

Spalding notes that despite a severe lack of money, Buena Vista school leaders “approved a three-year teachers union contract in 2011 that awarded raises and paid for 100 percent of employee health care costs – even though student enrollment had dropped by 13 percent in a matter of months, meaning that state (aid to the district) would drop at a similar rate.”

That harebrained decision helped contribute to the district’s current financial crisis, which very nearly resulted in Buena Vista students having their just-completed school year end almost a month earlier than planned.

“Pontiac is not doing much better,” Spalding reports. “Average teacher salaries have soared in recent years as enrollment has tumbled.”

She adds, “A former superintendent was allegedly fired for trying to expose financial mismanagement in Pontiac schools.”

What to make of all this?

Spalding finds some answers in Michigan’s Highland Park school district.

Despite spending nearly $20,000 per student, the district’s buildings were falling apart, with rodents in the classrooms and holes in the ceilings.

Writes Spalding:

“This year, under changes imposed by an emergency (financial) manager, a charter company runs Highland Park schools. At one school, a third of former Highland Park teachers chose to stay and teach at the new Highland Park Renaissance Academy.

“Students say that the school has changed for the better – their teachers actually teach this year.

“How is it possible for a school to change so dramatically with so many of the same teachers as the year before while spending less money? By changing a culture of mismanagement and waste. “

She concludes that “dramatic change is needed. The worst thing to do for the students in Michigan’s worst schools is to let those schools limp on. The problem is more severe than simply a lack of funds.”

Well said.

In fact, Spalding’s analysis applies to all states where public school officials spend prolifically even while students struggle to with proficiency.

To borrow a line from an old ZZ Top song: This problem is bad, it’s nationwide.