A lawsuit filed by the state’s largest teachers union against more than 30 public school academies was dismissed by an Ingham County Circuit Court judge. If successful, the Michigan Education Association’s suit could have displaced more than 10,000 students who attend public school academies authorized by Bay Mills Community College.

"The MEA has long opposed charter schools, and made no bones about the fact that they wanted to close down all BMCC-authorized schools," Bay Mills Community College President Michael Parish said after the ruling. "Perhaps this time the MEA will finally comprehend what thousands of Michigan families have known all along – that charter schools provide valuable educational alternatives, and that educational choice is here to stay."

Judge Joyce Draganchuk dismissed one count of the lawsuit and said the union lacked standing to bring three other counts. The suit named the state superintendent of public instruction, the state Board of Education, the state treasurer and the Department of Treasury as defendants. Bay Mills Community College has been criticized by some since 2001, when the college, located on the Bay Mills Indian Reservation in the Upper Peninsula’s Brimley, began authorizing charter schools in Bay City and Pontiac. Community colleges are allowed to authorize schools only within their immediate vicinity. Like most charter schools, those authorized by Bay Mills are not unionized.

Complaints arose that Bay Mills’ actions were circumventing the state’s 150-school cap on university-authorized charters and whether or not, as a community college, Bay Mills was limited to the boundaries of its geographic district for the purposes of authorizing charter schools. Then-Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, in an opinion requested by state legislators, ruled that as a federal tribally controlled community college, Bay Mills was limited to its geographic boundaries. The boundaries in question, however, are found in Article XI of the "Charter of the Bay Mills Community College," which states "the district of the Bay Mills Community College shall consist of the whole state of Michigan."

The MEA’s suit said Bay Mills should be limited to authorizing charter schools only within its tribal boundaries, and that the college had illegally delegated the oversight of its schools to a private company. Assistant Attorney General Robert Dietzel told the court that the MEA failed to show Bay Mills charter schools had caused the union any harm. Dietzel said if the Bay Mills schools closed tomorrow, that did not mean all 10,000 plus students, and hence the per-pupil state aid money for them, would revert back to conventional public schools.

"There are lots of different options these students could take," he told Draganchuk. "They could go to a private school, they could go to another charter school, or they could be home schooled."

Although the judge granted summary disposition to Bay Mills on three of the counts, she did say the MEA had standing on one count, that being that the board of governors at the community college is not a public body because it is not elected. That, the MEA argued, means the charter schools authorized by BMCC are not public and should not receive public dollars. Representing the state, Dietzel pointed out that the legislature, in passing the charter school law, made sure to include provisions that recognize tribal community colleges. The public schools authorized by Bay Mills also remain subject to the state Board of Education, a publicly elected body, and they therefore qualify for state funding.

The MEA has filed a notice to appeal the case.

Parental choice advocates statewide expressed satisfaction with the judge’s ruling, calling it a major victory for schools, students and families.

"This ruling not only supports Bay Mills and 10,600 students in its 32 schools, it upholds the fundamental freedom of all families and communities to have high-quality public school options," Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, said after the court’s ruling. "The MEA has wasted thousands of dollars, including direct taxpayer dollars, to harass charter schools with a frivolous case it knew it would never win."

Richard Landau, an attorney representing a group that includes Bay Mills, called the suit "naked, political self interest." Landau also said "the MEA’s position is that this public money is their money, it’s money their members are somehow entitled to."

Draganchuk’s ruling marks the second major court defeat the school employee union has suffered this year. Last August, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected the MEA’s attempt to unionize teachers at Brother Rice High School, an all-boys Catholic school in metro Detroit. After teachers expressed an interest in union representation, the MEA brought an action before the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, which scheduled a vote at the school for August 2004. The school’s board of directors appealed and the vote was postponed. The appeals court eventually decided MERC has no jurisdiction over lay teachers in parochial schools, a decision the MEA chose not to appeal.