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 Schools
Mission: With Watkins out, Granholm must move on fixes
Detroit Free Press, February 1, 2005
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Gov. Jennifer
Granholm got what she wanted in the fight to oust State Schools
Superintendent Tom Watkins. Now that he has resigned, Granholm
needs to show how far she is willing to go to solve the real
problems with public education. With Watkins off to a new
position at Wayne State University, Granholm has no room left
for finger-pointing or stalling.
Education is her proclaimed issue, and all of Michigan is
waiting to see what antidote she has in mind for a long list of
fiscal and academic ailments plaguing the state's 750 school
districts. The State of the State address next week is a fine
place for Granholm to offer Michigan a preview of her plan.
Step one, if it hasn't already begun, needs to be arming the
State Board of Education with a firm understanding of what
priorities she expects the next superintendent to live up to.
Without a straightforward set of marching orders, the board has
no means of assuring that their next hire won't also fall prey
to a gubernatorial takedown. The board suffered embarrassment
enough, watching the "A-minus" rating they issued Watkins just
six months ago get totally discounted for reasons that still
reek of personality conflicts.
If there are any pluses in this mess for Granholm, it is that
she showed herself capable of the kind of political stubbornness
that is rarely popular but often necessary to move difficult
issues.
She ought to be just as stubbornly committed to calling for a
bipartisan examination of such controversial ideas as
consolidating some schools and searching for more competitive
bids for school districts' health and pension benefits. On the
latter issue, Watkins had the courage to look beyond political
heat from the Michigan Education Association to the potential
savings for the state's school districts.
Granholm needs to offer her ideas quickly for reviving fiscally
troubled school districts. The line in the sand over Watkins
shows she is willing to take hard stands.
But her commitment has to go much deeper than helping to
short-circuit one unpopular voice.
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