The Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes & Politics: Overdrive series turned its focus toward one of the state’s most urgent challenges—education.
The discussion, moderated by Michigan Chronicle Executive Editor Jeremy Allen, featured Angelique Power, President & CEO of The Skillman Foundation; Ronald E. Hall, Jr., President & CEO of Bridgewater Interiors; and Dr. Jennifer Green, Superintendent of Southfield Public Schools.
Together, they examined Michigan’s K–12 education system and the path forward for students, families, and communities.
Despite years of new investments, Michigan ranks 44th in the nation for overall education outcomes, including graduation rates and reading and math proficiency. Hall pointed to inconsistent policymaking as a key barrier to progress.
“One of the big issues here in Michigan is that we don’t stick to policy,” said Hall. “That’s one of the things that holds us back and its been a collective inability to have all key parties working together so Launch Michigan is an organization that has stood up to combat that. We like to help to advance the ball by providing policies that can speak to the concerns of various stakeholder communities.”
Hall highlighted the work of Launch Michigan, a coalition uniting business leaders, philanthropists, and educators to address the state’s systemic shortcomings.
“Launch Michigan is a three-legged stool,” he explained. “The Skillman Foundation led for the philanthropic sector, Business Leaders for Michigan led for the business sector, and the professional education community is at the table. They’ve been at it for over a decade.”
Power, whose foundation has long advocated for equity in education, emphasized the need for funding models that meet the realities of students’ lives.
“Schools are repositories of students who are carrying a lot of things inside those classrooms,” said Power. “We absolutely need for students who have disabilities, who are coming from poverty, who are English language learners, we need to have a lot more money than we currently have.”
Dr. Green underscored the necessity of collaboration across sectors.
“One of the keys to success is that collective responsibility,” she said. “It takes both the business sector, as well as our community organizations, our parents, our educators to come together to ensure that every scholar that walks through our door receives a high quality education and all of the other wrap around support services that are necessary to ensure that they are able receive that high quality education so we engage with our business partners and our philanthropic organizations on a daily basis.”
The conversation made clear that solving Michigan’s education crisis will require collective accountability across classrooms, boardrooms, and communities.
Watch the full discussion at Michiganchronicle.com/pancakesandpolitics, presented in partnership with WDIV Local 4.
