In 2021, Flint Community Schools were intermittently closed due to Covid-19, but students still took the standardized state test for English Language Arts. Only 5% to 8% of third through sixth graders were proficient that year.
The school district responded by using federal pandemic money to give each of its unionized teachers a $22,500 bonus in 2021, an amount that surpassed the city’s per capita income of $20,799.
Nevertheless, 36% of Flint’s teaching staff was rated “highly effective” and 64% were given the second highest rating of “effective” that year. Just one of the 180 teachers evaluated received a rating of “ineffective.” And 21 of the 22 administrators in Flint rated in 2021 were also got favorable ratings.
In 2023-24, in a city where the median household income is $36,194, the average teacher salary reached an all-time high of $70,792.
Matthew Ladner, an education policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, explains how the true mission of school districts like Flint is not to educate students, it is to spend money and create jobs for adults, giving them a quality of life far above most of city residents.
Ladner cited theorist Stafford Beer who once said, “the purpose of a system is what it does… There is, after all, no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do.”
And Flint has constantly failed to provide the city’s children with a quality education.
The school district website states: “It is the mission of the Flint Community Schools to develop a community of learners who are prepared to live, work, and contribute to an ever-changing society.”
Flint School Superintendent Kevelin Jones recently told WSMH, “As an educator, whoever comes through that door, we are going to educate them.”
But by most measures, Flint does a very poor job of educating its students.
For example, excluding the 2020-21 school year when standardized testing was suspended due to Covid-19, the percentage of the district’s third graders that were proficient in English Language Arts has dropped from 19% in 2014-15 to just 4% in 2023-24.
Despite dismal academic results, Flint is one of the most highly funded districts in the state.
Flint schools’ general fund received $40,647 per pupil in 2023-24, more than double the state average. Much of the increase was due to federal Covid funding. Flint received $25,014 per pupil in federal money alone. Compare that to nearby Grand Blanc Community Schools, which received a total of $14,718 per pupil.
In 2023-24, not a single Flint teacher received a rating of minimally effective or ineffective while 35% of the teachers were rated “highly effective.”
Michigan taxpayers should ask whether their hard-earned money is spent to create Michigan’s future leaders, or is being funneled toward teachers keeping the status quo?
Tom Gantert is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
