Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!

Everything in the dark comes to the light.

~Former BHHS student.

Across the country, citizens, parents, and educators have watched their public schools close due to underfunding and high-stakes student testing. These schools are predominately black, Hispanic, and poor.

Public education with elected school boards are democratic institutions. Closing a school or school district, or a state takeover, is seen as an attack on democracy. It steals a community’s right to school ownership.

Right now this is playing out in the community of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

These headlines say it best: Anguish in Benton Harbor as Years of Mistakes Lead to a School’s Likely Demise. Mistakes? Students are being punished for being poor.

Americans should pay close attention to Benton Harbor, because even if your schools seem fine, sooner or later privatization will touch every school in the country.

Funding is always a problem for poor schools. Benton Harbor’s schools are $16 million in debt.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is a Democrat who rode into the governorship with promises to be a friend to public education. She says the state will eliminate $10 million of the debt by closing the high school and bussing students to ten outside area schools. The threat is that if they don’t do this, they will have to close all the schools.

Closing BHHS will devastate the community.

Consider that America is a rich country. Leaders find money for their priorities.

Source: Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!