HB 5859 would have required the state to use $500 million in federal funds to contract with private vendors, to supply students with educational supplies, opportunities, and services. Opponents criticized the Republican-introduced bill as a ploy to direct public money to private, for-profit institutions that aren’t accountable to parents or the public.
As part of our ongoing series of Q&As with Michiganders, we interviewed brothers Lionel and Michael Baldwin, students at Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, and their mother, Arshen Baldwin, a teacher at Arthur Hill.
One back-to-school proposal supported by Michigan Republicans like state Reps. Greg Markkanen and Ryan Berman would bring privatization to distance learning, leaving teachers in the lurch.