Opinion | Michigan school reform: Full of sound and fury, signifying what?

Recent headlines highlighting Michigan’s student achievement — or lack thereof — have sparked renewed debate about how to improve education in the state. The subsequent discussion of accountability systems, testing, 3rd grade reading and retention, school choice, and a host of other prospective strategies is familiar territory. We’ve been here before. 

One factor rarely mentioned is the strong relationship between household income and educational performance. It’s the elephant in the room: ignored not out of denial, but because it’s a difficult problem to solve. 

Here’s a simple illustration. WalletHub just published its 2025 report of States With the Best and Worst School Systems, while RemotePeople released updated data on state household income. A quick glance reveals a clear pattern: the average household income among the top 10 states for education is nearly $90,000, while for the bottom 10 it’s under $70,000. 

This pattern isn’t anecdotal. A 2016 Brookings Institution study found that children from high earning families score 60% higher on kindergarten readiness tests than their low income peers. Numerous other studies confirm that this gap persists throughout students’ academic careers. 

If you’re wondering, WalletHub ranks Michigan 37th in school system quality. RemotePeople places us 38th in household income. Our 4th grade reading and math scores on the NAEP fall in similar ranges, 44th and 34th respectively. These correlations should give us pause. 

To be clear, I’m not suggesting income determines destiny or that the solution lies in redistribution. Instead, we should study lower income, higher performing states to see what’s working. 

Interestingly, two such states, Wisconsin and Indiana, border Michigan. Both figure in WalletHub’s top 10 states with strong school systems despite having household incomes similar to Michigan’s $69,183. That raises an important question: What are these states doing that Michigan isn’t? 

One key difference is structural. Wisconsin and Indiana benefit from strong state-level education systems that provide consistency across districts, which supports student achievement regardless of high or low income status. Michigan runs MDE and MiLEAP, two overlapping systems. Compounding this, schools in Michigan operate in a fog of shifting legislative priorities. I’ve seen no less than four accountability systems in my 15 years as a school administrator in the state. Two of these, the School Index and an A-F letter grade system, currently run in parallel, although the latter is erratically maintained. 

Inconsistencies and redundancies like these are more than bureaucratic clutter. They’re a crippling waste of effort and an unnecessary distraction. They sap time, resources, and focus from what matters most: ensuring that all Michigan students perform at a high level.

Here’s a better path forward. First, place politics and ideologies aside, and stop guarding turf. Second, pass a common sense School Aid Fund budget. Third, appoint a non-partisan, blue ribbon commission to spend a year studying successful strategies in comparable states with the goal of delivering practical recommendations to lawmakers aimed at placing Michigan’s education system on solid footing. Then we can focus on providing the coherence and consistency necessary to outperform our circumstances. 

Yes, it will take patience. Yes, it will be uncomfortable. But Michigan’s future prosperity relies on the strength of its education system, and now is the time to start building it.