The most “powerful weapon” a person can wield is an education; when it comes to Southwest Michigan, this weapon could use sharpening.
South African President Nelson Mandela might have expressed it best: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Exchange “the world” for “Southwest Michigan” in that sentence, and the point remains just as valid. Education—especially the foundation of early childhood and K-12 education—is critical both to the children and future of this region. After all, businesses of all types depend on employees with full skills and knowledge to do their jobs—whether the college-educated software engineer or the operator of computer-controlled machine tool.
In that respect, there are both showcases of promising achievement and notable gaps—in this region and statewide—that leave considerable room for improvement.
Schools like Bloomingdale Middle and High School in Van Buren County are overachieving—exceeding the norm for academic performance given the high percentage of students on free and reduced lunch. On the other hand, in more than a dozen high schools within the region, less than half of students are deemed college-ready in math, reading, science and English. In some schools, less than 10 percent are deemed college-ready in those subjects.
Meantime, statewide standardized test scores have fallen to among the worst in the nation.
And school funding remains a challenge, both statewide and within the region.
Overall, Michigan ranked 22nd in the nation in K-12 per pupil funding in 2014, at $11,110 per student. That was on par with the national average of $11,009 per student, a figure that includes basic spending for classroom instruction, as well as bond issues, building levies, and millages for special education and vocational education. But, Michigan’s rank in funding fell from 14th in per pupil spending a decade earlier.
The 1994 reform of K-12 funding in Michigan was supposed to level out spending for classroom instruction in districts. To a degree, it has. But like elsewhere in the state, there are still disparities within the region in per-pupil funding. For example, New Buffalo Area Schools gets more than $10,000 in state and local funding per pupil for classroom instruction, while most districts in region get about $7,500.
Funding disparity shows up in millage support for career and technical training and in special education as well. In Southwest Michigan, for example, four of seven counties have no millage support for career training, limiting the scope of their programs.
But it’s probably best to start at the beginning, in light of strong evidence that quality early childhood education is a driver of later academic success. It’s arguably one of the best investments the state can make.
Preschool: Great Progress on a Great Start
Research developed for the Michigan Department of Education found that 58 percent of Pre-K Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) students graduated from high school on time, compared to 43 percent who were not GSRP students. The difference was even more dramatic for children of color, as 60 percent of minority GSRP participants graduated high school on time, compared to 37 percent for non-participants. Second grade teachers rated GSRP graduates higher on being able to learn, retain learning, and maintain good attendance than non-GSRP graduates. A higher percentage of fourth grade GSRP graduates passed the MEAP test than non-GRSP graduates.
In terms of getting kids off to a good start in school, Southwest Michigan is in much better shape than it was a few years ago.
A 2012 Bridge Magazine investigation found that 30,000 four-year-olds, who qualified for free, high-quality day care, weren’t in classrooms due to lack of state funding. In response, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Legislature approved $130 million per year in additional funds to boost Pre-K access. As a result, 21,000 more students gained access to the state preschool program, which is geared toward at-risk students from low-income families. It became the largest preschool expansion in the nation and the investment has now totaled more than a half a billion dollars.
Southwest Michigan added 3,133 GSRP slots from 2012 to 2014, an increase of 105 percent. By county, the increase ranged from 14 percent in Berrien County, which increased from 643 slots in 2012 to 735 in 2014, to 200 percent in Kalamazoo County, which climbed from 703 slots in 2012 to 2,111 in 2014. Statewide, the number of GSRP slots rose by 106 percent, from 29,324 in 2012 to 60,461 in 2014.
Pat Sargent, state coordinator of GSRP, explained that Berrien County’s expansion was limited by the decision of a Head Start grantee not to work with the Berrien Regional Education Service Agency to create a blended GSRP-Head Start program. Sargent said the district was further limited because only five of 35 potential community partners met quality requirements, of which two are current partners in the program.
On the other hand, Sargent said, “Kalamazoo was poised for expansion.”
That’s because the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) serves as the federal Head Start grantee for the area and had worked over years to develop a community-designed organization to coach and mentor local Pre-K day care providers to achieve high-quality standards.
As a result, Sargent said, “quite a few” met quality standards to qualify as a GSRP site.
K-12: Academic Performance is Fading Fast
At the next education level—K-12—judging academic performance of schools and individual districts can be a tricky enterprise, largely because extensive research has found a close tie between school achievement and the wealth status—or amount of poverty—of parents. Schools do not perform in a vacuum.
For example, the 2012 SAT scores for U.S. college-bound seniors showed strong correlation between the income level of parents and scores on math, reading, and writing. Students whose parents made less than $20,000 scored at the bottom, while students whose parents earned more than $200,000 were at the top. The correlation prevailed through all income levels.
And so while it’s worth singling out schools in Southwest Michigan with the highest raw achievement scores, it’s perhaps more instructive to look at academic performance in context.
At Bloomingdale Middle and High School, 71 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, which is available to children from families at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level. That ranked eighth highest among 60 high schools within Southwest Michigan. Yet Bridge Magazine—using its Academic State Champs metric—ranked the school No. 1 in the region for academic achievement when accounting for its relatively high percentage of poverty. It scored 123.8 on the ASC scale.
Juniors who took the ACT test at the school had a composite score of 19.5, which ranked 28th in the region. In the English test, they scored 19.6, 23rd in the region. Overall, its average composite ACT scores out-performed more than a dozen high schools with lower percentages of students from poor families.
New Buffalo Senior High School in Berrien County posted the highest raw ACT composite score among schools in the region, with an average score of 23.4. By comparison, 36 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch. It ranked second on the Academic State Champs scale, with a score of 115.7.
Mattawan High School in Van Buren County ranked second in ACT composite score, with an average of 22.9. But it ranked 25th on the Academic State Champs scale, with a score of 105.3. That’s largely because it has a far smaller share of students from poor families, with just 11.9 percent eligible for free or reduced lunch.
For perspective, the average U.S. ACT composite score in 2015 was 21, while the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut each had average composite scores of 24.4—tops in the nation. Michigan’s average composite score—20.1—was below the national average.
There is a wide, and troubling, variation within Southwest Michigan in the share of college-bound students who test ready for college. At the top end, well over half of New Buffalo Area Schools students who took the ACT tested scored as college-ready, ranging from 57 percent in math, 60 percent in reading, 55 percent in science and 88 percent in English. But just 7 percent of Battle Creek Central High School students who took the ACT tested college-ready in math, 12 percent in reading, 7 percent in science and 20 percent in English.
Moreover, in a dozen more high schools within the region, more than half of college-bound students tested below college-ready in all four subject areas—a sobering indication too many graduates will struggle in college. More than half of students at many more schools tested below college ready in at least three of four subject areas.
Meanwhile, there is additional data that Michigan as a whole is slipping behind in a number of academic proficiency metrics in grade school and middle school. That’s a race it can ill afford to lose.
In 2003, Michigan white students tied seventh in fourth grade math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which compares student performance across the country. Ten years later, Michigan fourth graders tied for 35th. African-American students in Michigan ranked 26th in 4th-grade math 2003. In 2013, they were tied for last in the nation among 44 states which reported NAEP scores.
In 2003, Michigan ranked ninth nationally in the number of eighth-grade math students in the 75th percentile of academic performance in Michigan—in other words, those considered above-average. A decade later, Michigan ranked 30th on the same measure.
School Funding: Michigan’s Old Model Isn’t Holding Up Well
Twelve years ago, Michigan spent $9,072 per pupil on K-12 education, 110 percent of the national average of $8,287 per pupil. But by 2014, its spending of just over $11,000 per student was about equal to the national average. During that time, eight states that had been behind Michigan in K-12 spending passed Michigan.
In July, a Bridge Magazine analysis concluded that Michigan would need to add at least $1.4 billion a year for its public schools to meet the recommendations in a June report prepared for the state by a Denver-based education consulting firm.
The study concluded that many Michigan districts are underfunded and that funding disparities between school districts are growing.
Using that study’s recommendations as a guideline, Bridge Magazine calculated that Kalamazoo Public Schools would need $7.3 million more than its $125.7 million in state and local funding for 2014-2015. By the same calculation, Battle Creek Public Schools would need $4 million more than its $47.6 million in state and local funding, while Van Buren Public Schools would need $5.9 million more that its $44.5 million in state and local funding.
Yet, Michigan’s school funding formula still allows some districts to enjoy considerable funding advantages over others.
After voters approved Proposal A in 1994—revamping Michigan’s school funding formula—several dozen high-spending districts were tagged “hold harmless” districts, allowing them to ask voters for additional property tax so they would not have to cut funding.
New Buffalo Area Schools is among at least 50 such districts in Michigan, which allows it to collect $10,014 in state and local funds per pupil. Bridgman Public Schools gets $8,234 per pupil, Kalamazoo $7,738; St. Joseph Public Schools, $7,517. All other districts get $7,511.
Wide Funding Disparities for Vocational Programs
There are even wider disparities in tax funding for vocational programs in Michigan’s 56 Intermediate School Districts (ISD). Formed in 1962 by legislation that abolished the state’s existing 83 county districts, ISDs primary purpose is to conduct student counts for each individual school district within their jurisdiction, oversee special education and operate career training programs.
The ISD system is built around a paradigm that governs education in this state: local control. As thinking about the possibilities of vocational education became more ambitious, many intermediate districts passed millages in the 1960s and 1970s to expand career programs. Others did not.
It is no accident that many of the best programs are tied to substantial tax support.
Of the 56 intermediate school districts, 23 have no dedicated millage for vocational education. Within Southwest Michigan, four ISDs—Berrien, Lewis Cass, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph—have no millage to support vocational education.
In contrast, Branch ISD levies 4.2 mills for vocational education, Van Buren levies 2.5 mills, and Calhoun levies 1.5 mills. Students in the Van Buren district choose from 28 career paths, including advanced manufacturing, graphic art, computer programming, and six options in health care. The Van Buren Technology Center boasts a three-dimensional plastics printer, robotic welding equipment, virtual paint programs, and an ambulance built into one of the classrooms.
Districts without a dedicated millage for vocational education often rely instead on payments from individual school districts within their borders that can range up to $2,000 per student per course. But without a dedicated revenue stream, many ISDs cannot afford the equipment and qualified instructors a top program demands.
With the shifting demands of the work force and nearly 100,000 job openings in Michigan listed on the Pure Michigan Talent Connect database, including fields like welding, computer-aided machining, and the construction trades, comprehensive vocational programs are less a luxury than a critical need—especially for students who are not college bound.
William Miller, executive director of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators, said the system is something well short of fair and equitable. Miller told Bridge Magazine in 2015: “Let’s just put it this way, the funding inequities are enormous.”
One only need look at tax revenue within Southwest Michigan’s ISDs for proof of that statement. In 2016, the Branch ISD generated $1,757 per pupil—one of the highest in the state. At the bottom end in Southwest Michigan, the Lewis Cass ISD generated $519 per pupil, while Van Buren generated $1,420 per pupil, St. Joseph $629, Berrien $688, Kalamazoo $958, and Calhoun $977.
This ISD funding disparity also shows up on another level—the amount per pupil generated by 1 mill. Within the 56 Michigan ISDs, that ranges from a low of $139 in the Genesee ISD to a high of $576 per pupil in the Charlevoix-Emmet ISD. Within Southwest Michigan, it ranges from $162 per pupil in the Calhoun ISD to $296 per pupil in the Berrien ISD.
Conclusion: Tons of Homework Ahead to Improve Michigan Education
While these disparities underscore the inequities in how Michigan funds its public schools, expansion of the GSRP program is an undeniable mark of progress. As a result, many thousands more students statewide, and in Southwest Michigan, have a better chance at academic success as they proceed through the school system.
It is especially important because many of these students come from family backgrounds that research says may handicap their odds of success. While no miracle, GSRP is an important first step in leveling those odds.
Nonetheless, with Michigan relying on a quarter-century-old K-12 funding formula, and with academic achievement dropping precipitously in comparison to other states, many parents, employers, educators, and policy makers are restive for change.
Lou Glazer, co-founder of Michigan Future, Inc., a nonpartisan research organization, is convinced Michigan will falter in the decade ahead if it fails to produce more college-educated graduates to compete in a knowledge-based economy.
Glazer notes that Minnesota had a per capita income in 2012 of $46,227. That’s nearly $9,000 more than Michigan. According to the U.S. Census, 31.5 percent of those age 25 and older in Minnesota had bachelor’s degrees in 2009, compared with 24.6 in Michigan. The national average was 27.9 percent.
But the road to college will be arduous if students aren’t ready to meet its academic demands. With more than half of students at more than a dozen Southwest Michigan high schools testing below college ready in all four subjects of the ACT, there is reason for concern.
If Nelson Mandela was correct a generation ago, Michigan policy makers—as well as Southwest Michigan families, educators, and employers—have plenty of homework to do in the generation ahead to sharpen the “most powerful weapon” available to improve individual lives and paths to prosperity.
