title: DETROIT SCHOOLS CHIEF Wants To Shut Down Charter Schools Ranked “Best In The State” To Focus On Public Schools Ranked “Worst Urban School District In Country”
text: Liberal logic 101 The new superintendent for Detroit s public schools said he will recommend the school district no longer authorize charter schools and focus instead on improving its conventional schools, according to the Detroit Free Press. We have to get it right with traditional public schools and our focus, our energy, our resources need to be on that,  Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Free Press.Hechinger Report   Since 1994, there has been an extreme decline in Detroit Public Schools  enrollment: 73 percent. This has had a huge impact on the financial stability of the district and the performance of its remaining schools. However, the expansion of charter schools is just one reason for the decline in enrollment. During that same time, the overall population in the city declined by 33 percent. In addition, the district lost a considerable number of students to inter-district choice programs with neighboring school districts, which enroll more students statewide than charter schools.ForTheRecord says: Two charter schools authorized by Detroit s public schools were rated as the best in the state, according to a report card published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The report card examined Michigan s middle and elementary schools and adjusted their rankings to reflect the impact of students  economic background.Detroit s Martin Luther King Jr. Education Center Academy was the top rated elementary and middle school in the state. Ross/Hill Academy was the second-best.Ironically, Detroit s public schools have been rated as the worst large urban school district in the country. In 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, the National Assessment of Education Progress did assessments and Detroit was rated as the worst in each time.Washington Examiner   According to a highly regarded study, in just one year Michigan charter school students earn an additional two months of learning gains over their traditional public school counterparts. For Detroit, charter students get an additional three months of learning in math and reading when compared to their traditional school peers.Most Michigan charter schools are authorized by state universities, and most conventional public school districts do not authorize any charters. Detroit is an exception, having authorized 14 charters.  Michigan Capitol Confidential