By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LANSING, Mich. – Last December, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder officially lifted the cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate in the Great Lakes State.

That decision will soon begin to yield fruit for many Michigan students, as 31 new charters prepare to open their doors this fall, reports MLive.com.

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Students in the Detroit area, for instance, will have access to a new charter school that’s set inside a hospital. The innovative school will allow students to get “a head start on a career in the medical field,” says charter school advocate Dan Quisenberry.

And Farmington Hills parents will soon have the option of enrolling their children in a new “language-immersion” charter school that teaches Chinese or Spanish beginning in kindergarten. Such skills will prove valuable in the increasingly global economy.

What wonderful options for parents, right?

Not according to dour Michigan Education Association leaders who have the uncanny ability of spotting potential problems with every new charter school, but seem blissfully ignorant about the wretched performance of many union-controlled school districts.

MLive.com captured the union’s “glass half empty” philosophy perfectly in a quote from MEA Public Affairs Director Doug Pratt.

“There’s no proof that these new charters will perform better or do anything except siphon more money away from neighborhood schools,” Pratt told the news site.

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Pratt knows full well that if a charter school doesn’t live up to expectations, parents will yank their kids out of the classroom and the school will not have its charter renewed.

If the new hospital-school stinks, it will be closed down and converted to a new waiting lounge in a few years. (If traditional government schools were held to the same level of accountability, Detroit Public Schools would have been paved over several decades ago.)

But there’s even another level of quality control. MLive.com reports that charter operators are being told to police themselves, in order to ensure high standards.

Richard Lemon, Connecticut’s deputy director for school change, recently warned a group of charter authorizers that they must adhere to rigorous standards.

“It used to be that if someone wanted to open a charter school, they needed to have a cool idea and the money to get it going,” Lemon told the audience. “Now, you need to make sure they have a plan for high-quality leadership, teachers and instructional guidance. If they don’t, then they don’t deserve a charter.”

The 31 new charters will join the 245 that are already operating throughout the state.

More options and more competition signal better days ahead for Michigan’s students. It also promises tougher times ahead for the MEA.

No wonder they’re in a dour mood these days.