They've had a positive impact on traditional schools. We're not afraid to hear that discussion, whether it's interdistrict choice, charters or other options. Voucher supporters say they also haven't given up their fight, although they've switched to a more cooperative approach. In the next year, the board plans to spend more money on a program that sends teachers and administrators from better-performing schools to schools that need help. Gire believes the program will be more helpful than measures such as the state's rancorous takeover of the Detroit schools in 1999.
Lawmakers apparently agree.
We need to take a really in-depth look both at schools that are failing and schools that are succeeding against the odds and figure out what those schools are doing right.