That’s a worthy goal. And members of the coalition believe they’ve made progress in recent months.
We are hopeful that good people will come up with good solutions to challenging problems affecting the education landscape in Detroit,” says William Hanson, chief of staff at the Skillman Foundation.
Detroit families are, too. About 300 parents and other advocates made a trip to the Capitol this week to rally support for the coalition’s recommendations.
Dawn Wilson-Clark, a Brightmoor parent of four who serves on a subcommittee with the coalition, participated in the Lansing event because she’s frustrated with the scarcity of quality schools to choose from in her neighborhood, and the lack of coordination among traditional public schools and charters.
“I’m concerned about the chaos,” Wilson-Clark says. “Parents’ voices need to be heard.”
It’s unclear though how eager lawmakers are to hearing they need to send millions to Detroit schools.
The coalition is hopeful that momentum is building in Lansing. But once the bills are introduced they’ll join a host of other school-related legislation, including teacher evaluations and school letter grades — issues that have been debated unsuccessfully the past several years.
Snyder plans to make the Detroit reforms a focus, but it’s going to be a tough sell for lawmakers.
“I am not going to take anything off the table because the priority is the kids of Detroit and their education,” the governor says.
ijacques@detroitnews.com
Article Appeared @http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/ingrid-jacques/2015/10/02/jacques-detroit-schools-plan/73190098/