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Michigan’s education system has been transformed by the rapid growth of charter schools and school choice since 1993. A New Type of Public School: Primary Source Interviews and Essays on Michigan Charter Schools traces the state’s journey from restrictive policies to a dynamic, often controversial marketplace for public education.
Drawing on original documents and the voices of policymakers, the chapters in this book reveal how political leaders and advocacy networks have reshaped governance, accountability, and equity. Michigan’s story offers vital insights into the national debate on charter schools and the future of public education.
A New Type of Public School demystifies the policymaking process and provides a vital lens on the complexities of educational reform. It is essential reading for educators, policymakers, and anyone invested in the future of public schooling.
In A New Type of Public School: Primary Source Interviews and Essays on Michigan Charter Schools, Brian J. Boggs and Donald Cooper offer a distinctive contribution to the literature on education law and policy development. The text is a hybrid volume that blends primary source information (e.g., speeches, policy documentation, oral histories, and analytical essays) to reconstruct the historical policy narrative about the emergence and evolution of the Michigan charter school movement. The book situates Michigan not merely as a participant in national reform trends but as a jurisdictional crucible in which questions of governance, constitutional design, and educational equity were actively contested. Instead of advancing a thesis, the editors implement a methodological approach that is steeped in archival interpretation—seeking to illuminate the policymaking process by highlighting the spectrum of voices of those who shaped it. This volume is distinctive from traditional accounts of the charter school movement through its use of historical records, primary sources, and interviews to spur readers’ engagement with the text.
The book is organized into four principal sections: (1) a foundational gubernatorial speech, (2) a series of oral histories from key policymakers and actors, (3) analytical essays, and (4) a reproduction of the original statutory framework governing Michigan charter schools. The text’s structure reflects a deliberate methodological positioning—rather than centering a secondary analysis, the editors elevate primary materials to allow the reader to grapple with the development of policy through language, political framing, and reflection.
A New Type of Public School succeeds in its central objective: to illuminate the inner workings of educational policymaking through a rich compilation of primary sources and reflective analysis. Its main contribution lies not in advancing a singular normative argument, but in providing materials necessary for readers to engage critically with the origins of charter school policy.
— Chris Poitra, Ph.D. is a Michigan farmer and a Myers Center Senior Researcher in the UC Berkeley Institute for the Study of Societal Issues.
Brian J. Boggs, Ph.D., J.D., is an Assistant Professor of Policy and Educational Leadership, University of Michigan-Dearborn, USA.
Donald Cooper is the director of civic initiatives at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, USA and a senior fellow at the National Charter Schools Founders Library, USA.
Introduction: The Architecture of Reform: Michigan as a Case Study in Educational Governance
Part 1. The Speech that Started It All
Chapter 1. The Governor’s Speech
Part 2. Oral Histories
Chapter 2. Interview with Governor John Engler
Chapter 3. Interview with Dick Posthumus
Chapter 4. Interview with Richard McLellan
Chapter 5. Interview with Mary Kay Shields
Chapter 6. Interview with James (“Jim”) Barrett
Chapter 7. Interview with Dr.James (“Jim”) Goenner
Chapter 8. The J.C. Huizenga Oral History: Sustaining and Scaling the Charter Movement
Chapter 9. Interview with the Honorable Phil Pavlov
Part 3. Essays on Charter Schools
Chapter 10. Reflections on the Development of Charter Schools in Michigan
Chapter 11. Financial Transparency and Michigan Charter Schools
Part 4. Original Charter Schools Law
Chapter 12. PA Act No. 284 Public Acts of 1993
Chapter 13. PA Act No. 362 Public Acts of 1994
Conclusion: Legal Vindication and the Horizon of School Choice