By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI – Republican state senators unveiled an education reform plan Thursday that would allow teachers and parents to decide if their local public school is failing. If both agree the school is failing, a charter school would take its place.
State Senator Wayne Kuipers sponsored the legislation. He says schools could be turned into magnet or career-training schools, or anything else that would increase attendance and improve grades and graduation rates: "We think that there are some strategies that we can re-engage them in the educational process by creating some focused schools that we're calling "Neighborhood Schools."
The state House is also discussing an education reform plan. That plan includes an ultimatum for failing schools, with the threat of a state takeover. The Senate plan does not threaten government intervention.