CRC’s report, “Improving Oversight of Michigan Charter Schools and Their Authorizers,” is severely lacking. While it accurately describes a lot about how charter school authorizing works, the report fails to provide why the current public oversight of charter schools and their authorizers needs to be reformed. As such, readers only learn that charter school oversight needs to change simply because it is different than the type of oversight used for other public schools in Michigan and for charter schools in other states.
Charter schools and charter school authorizers have been serving Michigan families for more than two decades. To be sure, there are policy changes that could help these public entities improve. But this CRC report does little to help policymakers with that task, because it fails to make the case for why reform is needed and fails to articulate how the proposed reforms will lead to better educational outcomes.