LANSING, Mich. — Sen. Joseph Bellino on Wednesday voted against legislation to make it harder for parents to know how their children’s schools are performing.
“An effective education is critical to a child’s future success, yet this bill does nothing to help kids learn, address learning loss due to the pandemic or improve student performance,” said Bellino, R- Monroe. “Rather than helping empower parents to make informed decisions about their children’s education, the Democrats are trying to repeal a transparent and easy-to-use system that allows parents to see how well their local schools are doing.”
Michigan’s current system assigns a letter grade ‘A’ through ‘F’ to several areas of school performance, including proficiency in reading and math, student growth, graduation rates, and a school’s performance in comparison with its peers.
House Bill 4166 would eliminate that A-F accountability and ranking system for Michigan public schools.
Bellino also noted that, earlier this year, Democrats eliminated a portion of a law that helped every Michigan student read at their grade level.
“I’m deeply disappointed that Senate Democrats continue to prioritize protecting teachers and administrators over helping ensure our students get the education they need,” Bellino said. “With testing showing that Michigan’s average scores fell by more than twice the national average last year, it is unconscionable that they are lowering academic standards and reducing accountability.”
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