State laws giving the governor wide powers to take over local governments and schools are raising numerous questions. Emergency Financial Managers May Make Matters Worse, Some Officials Charge
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"The strength of free nations resides in the local community. Local institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within people's reach, they teach people how to use and enjoy it." --Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835
State laws giving the governor wide powers to take over local governments and schools are raising numerous questions.
"Is the cure worse than the disease?" some officials and business executives are asking.
Some opinions go so far as to charge the state with creating mini-dictatorships eating away the foundation of democratic self governance in municipalities.
Meanwhile, school districts that have been largely dependent on state financing after the Passage of Proposal A in 1990 are wary of state takeovers.
"Is the state undermining finances of schools and, using that financial weakness, destroying not only unions but also the authority of elected boards of education and superintendents?" one critic asks.
The time-honored concept of local control of education may be slipping even farther away, some school advocates fear.
A 1907 decision of the United States Supreme Court gives the state total authority over local governments -- counties, cities, townships and school boards.
Bay County Executive Thomas L. Hickner and county officials recently were made aware of the decision in the case of Hunter vs. Pittsburgh that allowed consolidation of two cities by majority vote of the citizens and gives every state total control of local governments.
The court held not unconstitutional the consolidation of the the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny even though taxpayers of Allegheny had to assume debts of Pittsburgh.
The decision stated: "Municipal corporations are political subdivisions of the State created as convenient agencies for exercising such of the governmental powers of the State as may be entrusted to them. The State, therefore, at its pleasure may modify or withdraw all such powers, may take without compensation such property, hold it itself, or vest it in other agencies, expand or contract the territorial area, unite the whole or part with another municipality, repeal the charter and destroy the corporation. In all these respects the State is supreme, and its legislative body, conforming its actions to the state constitution, may do as it will, unrestrained by any provision of the Constitution of the United States."
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/municipal-corporation#ixzz1Lgt8QbhK
Recent actions by Gov. Rick Snyder in appointing an emergency financial manager in Benton Harbor under a state law wiping out the power of local officials has alarmed many officials of local units of government.
Abuse of the financial manager system is widely feared and unconfirmed reports are that the Detroit Public Schools has gone further in debt during the tenure of EFM Robert Bobb.
Detroit newspapers have reported that new manager Roy Roberts, a former General Motors executive, faces more than $14 million in unpaid bills. The district's deficit actually grew under Bobb while enrollment continued to decline, according to news reports.
"I found that in trying to deal with the Detroit Public Schools the main barrier was in going through one of Mr. Bobb's cronies," said a business contractor with wide contacts in education.
"I think we will find that instead of saving money with the EFM, taxpayers will end up paying more because of the built-in opportunity for corruption in such a system."
Mr. Roberts has appealed to Detroit district voters for help -- voters who have largely been left out of decision making through operation of the EFM law that nullifies the power of the board of education.
A recent report by the Citizens Research Council for the Michigan Association of School Boards notes: "Michigan law allows the state to take over local districts that are facing a financial or academic emergency. Michigan's Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act gives the superintendent of public instruction responsibility for monitoring and periodically reviewing the financial conditions of school districts.
"The state can declare a fiscal emergency and can appoint an emergency financial manager (EFM) who takes financial responsibility over the district from the school board.
"Currently, the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) district is operating under the authority of an EFM appointed by the state, and there has been disagreement between the EFM and Detroit's elected school board over the proper distribution of authority. However, recent changes to state law clarified that an EFM does have authority over academic matters."
The CRC report continued: "In the past, education has been viewed as a local good that primarily benefits the local community. Therefore, it was provided and funded locally with local voters and local school district officials making the decisions related to public education. In more recent years, there has been an acknowledgment of the regional and national benefits associated with a good public education system.
"This has led states, including Michigan, and the federal government to take a more active interest and role in education. Benefits associated with increased centralization in public education include more equality in school spending and services across the state. Some would argue that the quality of education a child receives should not be dependent on the school district that the child lives in and what local taxpayers are (or are not) willing to pay for education.
"On the other hand, centralized school funding and governance can cause some school districts to spend less than residents of those districts would like to on education and receive a lower level of services, while causing other districts to spend more than they prefer and giving their residents more services than they desire."
The CRC report concludes: "The research found that it is difficult to link shifts in school and district governance in general to improved instructional practices or outcomes. Sometimes governance reforms lead to improvements in other areas (e.g., budgeting and finance), but not educational outcomes."
In such a time of flux in local governments and schools, exacerbated by unsteady economic conditions, it would seem that the governor might be best served to go slow in any widespread takeovers of units with shaky finances.
Perhaps Gov. Snyder should heed the advice of one business leader who says giving mayors, city councils, school boards and superintendents some of the powers of the EFM might smooth governance more than an EFM with dictatorial powers at odds with traditional American democracy. ###
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