Judge Dismisses Michigan Suit Brought
Against Charter Schools Run By Tribal College
LANSING, Mich.
A judge dismissed a suit brought by Michigan’s largest teacher’s union seeking to close the 32 charter schools authorized by an Upper Peninsula tribal college.
Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk says the Michigan Education Association doesn’t have standing to bring three of the counts, and she dismissed the fourth.
The MEA had argued that, because Bay Mills Community College is run by an American Indian tribe and is not overseen by state authorities, the charter schools it authorizes are not public schools.
“The problem we have here is that you have a purported public school receiving public funds that’s run by a private school board and overseen by a private authorizing body,” MEA general counsel Art Przybylowicz says. “In our view, that’s not public control.”
But BMCC President Michael C. Parish said in a news release that the judge agreed with the college that it has the authority to authorize charter schools.
Charter schools are tuition-free schools that receive state aid but can be run by private management companies. They are intended to be more innovative than traditional public schools.
