“Are we making available to parents and families a wide range of educational options to students or restricting them to the government schools,” asks Mike Reitz, executive vice president of the Mackinac Center. “Since Covid, 20 states have expanded or created school choice programs, and Michigan is dragging at the back of the pack.”

“What we see in Michigan is that there’s been a lot of resistance to the idea of using public funds to directly or indirectly support private schools from both citizens and policy makers,” Reitz says

Part of the reason for this is the Blaine Amendment, which was designed to prevent private schools from competing for state funding and was born of anti-Catholic bigotry. Some politicians claim that school choice is not popular among Michigan voters because they rejected a voucher proposal at the ballot in 2001. That was 23 years ago, however. In Michigan’s case, it would require a constitutional amendment or litigation regarding the constitutionality of the Blaine Amendment. To do that, “you're talking millions of dollars just to get it on the ballot and then potentially tens of millions of dollars to educate voters on the merits of the idea,” says Reitz.

What can be done to enact school choice in Michigan? “You have to have a critical mass of people who care about it,” Reitz says. “I don’t know exactly what it was about having schools shut down but that helped change the political dynamics of school choice. Maybe it was parents’ objections over some of the curriculum or maybe it was dissatisfaction over how schools were shut down, but what had previously been either a neutral or a negative for school choice advocates, that being parental opinion, has suddenly been activated in school choice's favor.”

How can parents reform the current educational establishment? According to Reitz, “Step one is to go out into the community and find people who are innovating within the existing options for school choice and unique educational programs.” He adds, “It’s never a majority of people that instigate change, it’s usually a focused minority of people who make a compelling case as to why a policy proposal is better than the status quo,” says Reitz. Additionally, having influential voices come out in favor of school choice helps garner support for change. Educational alternatives like homeschooling, too, have had a major impact in gathering support for change. “The more people you have in an alternative education program come of age and attain some kind of success that provides success stories for people to look to,” says Reitz.

One alternative form of social change can come through the courts. “Currently the Mackinac Center is representing five families in a challenge to the Blaine Amendment in Michigan because of the amendment’s discriminatory impacts.”

James Hohman, the Mackinac Center’s director of discal policy and host of the Overton Window podcast notes, “We think that getting voters to approve an amendment to the constitution is within the Overturn Window right now; we just have to ask voters to do it.”

Why should anyone support school choice, though? “People ought to be free to pursue the educational options for their families and kids that best suit them,” Reitz. “Children are different. Students learn differently from each other, and families have different needs and different priorities. So, having a wide range of educational options available to them is the right thing to do and it will lead to better educational outcomes.” Parents are not the only supporters of school choice. Some famous advocates of educational choice include economists Thomas Sowell and the late Milton Friedman, as well as the rapper Jay-Z, who recently pushed for vouchers.

In more recent news, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation that recognizes out-of-state occupational licenses for military personnel and their families. “I think we need to make the case for why that ought to apply for anyone. Occupational licenses inhibit Michigan’s ability to attract people to the state. There's a lot of conversation about population in Michigan and creating new jobs, and this is a way to do that,” says Reitz. “These regulations tend to hurt people at the lower rungs of the economic ladder and so if we really care about helping them and getting them started on a path to prosperity, we ought to open” more occupations to them.

Regarding electric utilities, regulations limit the number of providers in Michigan. Reitz says, “Our electricity costs are higher than surrounding states, our reliability is worse, and the grid is fragile.” “We need to diversify the provider market so more companies could provide electricity. ... We also need to be sure that the generation of electricity is happening in a reliable and cost-effective way.” Due to Michigan’s Legislature prioritizing ineffective green energy sources, blackouts are likely to happen. Reitz says, “We are headed toward a future where electricity is more expensive and is less reliable.”

“With regards to subsidies, I think you have to spot scandal and identify potential misuse of public resources for those kinds of programs,” he says. “Here in Michigan, there is a businesswoman who negotiated a $20 million subsidy from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and spent $4,500 on an expensive coffee maker!” Reitz added, ”Lawmakers who vote for subsidies would like to do so thinking all this is going to create jobs and attract companies to Michigan. What you don't expect to hear is ’Yeah we bought a really fancy coffee maker with that money.’”

While Michigan has given out billions to corporations, it does not have to be this way. Speaking with Reitz, Hohman notes that “Michigan has passed a few budgets that hardly had any earmarks.” Reitz responded that this is due to “both political leadership and voters’ expectations. Our ability to find stories of waste and mismanagement and bring a light to them is far superior today than it was 10 or 20 years ago because of social media and digital outreach.” Hohman agreed, saying, “Because of social media, embarrassing things can embarrass you faster and in front of more people than before, and I think that's an important change that has happened to the Overton Window over time.”

Want to hear the full conversation? Head over to the Overton Window podcast for more great guests and conversations.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.