MIDLAND —The Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy reports that that the trend toward the privatization of services within Michigan’s public schools continues. Among many other developments, recent months have produced the following:
• On March 2, teachers in the Battle Creek Public Schools voted 227-152 to endorse a letter of understanding that opens the door to a New York City-based, for-profit school management company, the Edison Project, to manage the education of some 600 students in two local elementary schools.
• Wee Care Child Development Center, a nonprofit day-care provider, won a contract in early March to take over Muskegon High School’s day care in its industrial arts building.
• The Coldwater Community Schools business manager announced in December that the district’s arrangement with a private company to oversee transportation maintenance was working well and had saved the district about $40,000 in the first four months.
