In Michigan, are schools of choice good or bad?

I wonder if political candidates will debate the issue of schools of choice during the campaign this summer and fall.  They should talk about this Michigan law that allows students from one district to attend public schools in another.

To set the context for this need, I point to a story in yesterday's Lansing State Journal which states that Lansing's public schools lost 6,000 students during the past five years.  When the bulk of its operational  funding comes from state aid determined by per pupil state aid, such aa loss is devastating.  Nearby suburban school districts dodge budget problems by being able to accept city students.

Meanwhile, public perception of Lansing's schools continues on a spiral downward.  When my kids were school age, I would wince at the possibility of sending my kids to neighborhood public schools because of my perceptions of their condition.

Along with schools of choice, political candidates need to share their point of view about the cause of the perceived nosedive of the educational quality of many public schools.  It would be too easy to blame teachers and curriculum.

How about family and the condition of family life in our culture?  In today's Lansing State Journal, Circuit Judge Laura Baird talks about how our courts are being clogged with family cases. 

How much of our educational decline can be attributed to dysfunctional families that are looking for the schools to raise their kids?

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