Michigan Offers a Cautionary Tale for Democrats Who Attack School Choice

If Democrats are looking for a way to continue to lose working-class Black and Latino votes, look no further than Michigan.

A number of Democrats there are dangerously attacking the public charter school choices that parents have long enjoyed. In doing so, they are only pushing more voters into the Republicans’ camp.

Democratic leaders in the Michigan State Senate recently pushed through a package of bills aimed at stripping away the flexibility that public charter schools need to serve 150,000 students. They said the bills would improve financial transparency, but what they actually do is bind charter schools in knots so tight, they can’t function. 

The bills received no Republican votes and are now sitting in the Michigan House, waiting for passage there. The clock is ticking in Michigan, because Democrats are about to lose control of that chamber on Jan. 1. If they vote to approve them, it’s likely they’ll be out of power for a whole lot longer because parents in places like Detroit—where public school choice is wildly popular—are no doubt paying attention.

Democrats’ attack on charter schools must be head-scratching to families in Detroit and beyond given that the Michigan public charter school sector is in the top 10 of all states in the nation and they are tangibly helping low-income and working-class kids get ahead.

What’s playing out in Michigan is a micro version of what’s playing out on the national stage. Sadly, too many members of our party have chosen to side with special interests over parents and families. When Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were in the White House, we were the party of educational options and true public accountability. Now we’re the party that says, “You don’t get to decide where your child goes to school; we do.”

This is an open letter to my fellow Democrats in Michigan and across the country: ignoring the voices of families and students is a really bad idea.

Working-class Americans are yearning for real change and the recent election results have shown us the steep political price that gets paid when you ignore it. Let’s digest the fact that the votes of parents of children under 18 helped deliver the White House to Donald Trump. Whereas Biden won these voters in 2020, they swung markedly to the right by 7 points in 2024. How did this happen?

For roughly the past 10 years, either as part of the “resistance” to Trump’s first term or at the urging of teachers’ unions, too many members of our Party have been aggressively anti-school choice. Gone are the days of Clinton and Obama when, rather than reject choice, our party embraced it and molded it to align with Democratic values. 

Over the past decade but particularly since the pandemic, Republicans have focused even more intensely on school choice. While they have put forward a vision of school choice, Democrats have opposed it without offering a compelling alternative. Voters across the country have taken notice. Democrats used to enjoy a 20+ point advantage in voter trust on education issues, but today, that advantage has vanished. 

Here is the plain truth: voters no longer trust our party to deliver on their educational needs. 

American schools are failing too many children, particularly those from the very communities Democrats claim to champion. Literacy and math proficiency rates are abysmal and too many students graduate unprepared for college or careers. And yet, too many Democrats have positioned themselves as defenders of the status quo. This is both morally indefensible and a core reason why we have lost touch with our base.

Low-income and working-class families rely heavily on public education for upward mobility. These voters, the historic backbone of Democratic coalitions, are particularly disillusioned and they are drifting away. We need to take a different approach.

My hope is that the recent election results will cause us as a party to pause and reflect. In the case of these proposed anti-charter school bills, I strongly urge Democrats in the Michigan House to apply the brakes. Moving forward will only serve to further brand us as anti-choice and out of touch. 

The first rule to follow when you find yourself in a ditch is to stop digging! We can start this week in Michigan, a state we narrowly lost in the presidential election. To my fellow Democrats there, don’t push even more voters away. 

Being on the side of working-class parents and students will prove to be good policy and politics for Democrats.