Your Neighborhood School

Your neighborhood school is your first option to consider. The school your district assigns your child to is generally determined by where you live. Your neighborhood school offers the advantage of being near your home, and a community of parents and students who reside near the school. You'll want to evaluate the school to make sure the academic program, size of the school and quality of education meet your child's needs before choosing this option.

School Transfers

The passage of Public Act 300 in 1996 authorized school choice in Michigan. It provided for the beginning of programs for interdistrict and intradistrict choice. Intradistrict choice allows your child to transfer to any other school within his district. Interdistrict choice allows him to transfer to any school that is in a participating school district that is near enough to your district. Some districts choose not to participate and some districts may be too far. (Choice is usually limited to those districts bordering your own.)

For more on the subject, see What You Should Know About School Transfers in Michigan.

The No Child Left Behind Law

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, you may request to have your child transferred to another school in the same district if your child’s current school is classified as “in need of improvement.” If your child transfers, the district will pay for transportation costs up to a certain cap. However, not all requests can be granted because other schools in the district may not have the capacity to accept more students.

If none of your district’s schools have the capacity to accept transfers, the law requires the district to try to form agreements with other districts to allow for transfers.

If your district is unable to immediately provide a transfer, if your transfer request is denied, or if you’d rather not transfer your child, you can still inquire at your school about tutoring, after-school programs, summer school and other programs to help improve your child’s performance. Districts are required to provide these supplemental education services to your child if she attends a school that is “in need of improvement.” For more information on the No Child Left Behind Act, see What No Child Left Behind Means for Your Child.

Charter Schools

Charter schools, called Public School Academies in Michigan, are essentially similar to public schools, but the leadership has more freedom to experiment. The theory behind charter schools is that this extra freedom will allow them to try different educational practices and enable them to use teaching methods more targeted to their students. The charter school is operated under the watch of an “authorizer,” (a state university, school district, intermediate school district or community college) which is responsible for monitoring the school’s progress and adherence to state regulations. An individual or nonprofit organization may make a charter proposal to an authorizer. The authorizer decides whether or not to grant the charter. It can also decide to discontinue the charter if the school performs poorly or engages in illegal actions.

Michigan currently has 220 charter schools with over 91,000 children enrolled. Michigan has been ranked near the very top of the nation in the amount of freedom it gives to its charter schools. These schools have spurred some important advances in education. They spearheaded full-day kindergarten and character education in addition to foreign-language instruction for the lowest grades. hese advances have pushed traditional public schools to expand their program offerings as well.

Michigan charter schools have achieved mixed results academically. Some have consistently outscored other schools in their district while some have lagged behind. Charter schools serve a larger proportion of low-income and minority students eager to leave poorly-performing schools for something new. This may be part of the reason results have been hard to interpret: The makeup of the schools varies so widely. In any case, charters in Michigan are an accessible resource for transferring a child out of a poorly performing school.

Read more about charter schools in the article Charter Schools Offer an Array of Choices.

Magnet Schools

Magnet schools are public schools that offer a specialized academic program, often emphasizing a particular field of study. They often have longer school days and more challenging classes. They may be separate schools or some traditional schools may have magnet programs within the school.

Magnet schools were originally meant to use their specialized programs of study to draw together a diverse population of students from many areas in order to desegregate the school system.

Michigan has around 250 magnet schools. Be sure to investigate the magnet schools in your area to find a program that may match your child’s interests.

Private Schools

Families of students pay tuition or, in some cases, students receive scholarships to attend private schools. The teachers, principal, board of directors and, sometimes, parents and students decide upon the curriculum, teaching methodology and enrollment requirements. For more information on private schools see Private vs. Public Schools: What’s the Difference? and School Data: Private Schools. Districts will provide some services to students of private schools.

Districts must provide services such as instruction to home-bound students (students who must stay at home due to injury or illness, for example) and language instruction to students who speak limited English. Nonpublic school students may participate in shared time instruction, such as band, art, domestic science, shop, advanced math and science at the local public schools. Districts also provide for school health care in private schools and for free or reduced-price lunches in nonprofit private schools.

Private school teachers must have a teaching certificate in Michigan. If a family’s religious beliefs prohibit the use of certified instructors, the instructor must obtain a teaching permit from the Department of Education.

Homeschooling

Parents may also teach their children at home instead of sending them to a public or private school. Michigan does not require parents to obtain teacher certification nor does it require homeschooled students to be tested. Michigan law requires only that homeschooled students be taught up to an age-appropriate level “in the subject areas of reading, spelling, mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing and English grammar.” Homeschooled students need not take the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests or have a minimum number of hours of instruction.

Many communities have organizations that assist homeschooling families with curriculum and opportunities to meet other homeschoolers. For more information on homeschooling, see Homeschooling: Key Facts and Resources.

July 2005