Beneath the Surface: Identifying Sociocultural Contexts of Michigan’s School District Dissolution Policy

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Decision-Making Processes in Anti-DEI Education Policy Movements (Table 5)

Abstract

Despite best efforts to develop education policies based on constituents’ needs, policymakers wrestle with conflicting cultural norms, interactions, beliefs, values, and historical contexts that impact decision-making during policy development and implementation. A study of the creation and application of Michigan Public Act 96 (2013) found that several factors influenced the state’s district dissolution policy, including personal values around finances and fiscal management, assumptions about deficit districts and their leadership, and past state actions that led to financial challenges for many districts. This paper highlights how various sociocultural contexts influenced the creation of a district reform policy and changed the lives of one city’s educational landscape by dismantling its only traditional public district.

Author

• Ketrina N. Childs, National Heritage Academies