Detroit — Brian Broderick, executive director of the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, commended Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s voiced commitment to making education the centerpiece of his agenda.

But the MANS director, in an April 27 news release, said Michigan’s constitution contains “onerous and discriminatory language” that prevents Michigan students from access to quality non-public schools by blocking aid to those schools. And until the governor is willing to tackle that root cause of the problem, turning Michigan’s schools around isn’t likely to happen.

“Unless Gov. Snyder addresses this inequity, he is really tinkering at the edges of meaningful reform,” Broderick said in the statement. “To date, the focus of this legislature and the administration has been on adult-centric issues and not what is best for children and parents.”

Broderick pointed out that Michigan’s high-performing non-public schools – of which Michigan’s Catholic schools are members – currently save the state about $700 million per year. He said the schools already have key factors that could help all Michigan schools excel – including “accountability, measuring for success and classroom flexibility.”

“What is needed with (education) reform is a recognition and support for what faith-based and other non-public schools are doing and will continue to do in the future,” he said.

He urged the governor to expand the sharing of resources between public and non-public schools, allow youths more opportunity to have “dual enrollment” at public and non-public schools, and to find some way – be it supporting a change to the state constitution or otherwise – to reimburse Catholic schools for what he calls the “very public” function of educating Michigan’s youths as mandated by the state.

“Regrettably, in Michigan your zip code plays too large a role in the quality of a child’s education,” he said.