Up North Progressive

On September 17, 2018, Charyl Stockwell Academy founder Chuck Stockwell sent out a letter to parents declaring it wasn’t fair that real public school districts could hold elections to raise funds while charter schools which are not districts can’t and ordered the parents of CSA to vote NO on upcoming millage elections. The only problem with that is it’s a violation of campaign finance law in the state of Michigan. WHMI in Livingston County had this to say:

The Michigan Campaign Finance Act prohibits the use of public funds to advocate for or against ballot proposals. Chuck Stockwell sent an email communication (posted below) to the Charyl Stockwell Academy District as well as a physical letter home with some students on September 17th. It shares some information on charter school funding and states “it isn’t fair” that public schools can capture taxes via millages and public charter schools cannot. It urges parents and families to vote no on all public school millages and vote for politicians who support charter schools, providing a link to a list of preferred candidates by Great Lakes Education Project, a charter school advocacy group. It concludes by soliciting a donation of $250 per student that will go to teachers in grants to encourage them to stay and teach in the CSA district.

All five Livingston Education Service Agency public school districts signed a statement along with the LESA Superintendent that Stockwell’s letter violated Michigan campaign finance laws.

This law is strictly enforced with rules for how a district may promote a millage or bond proposal in an upcoming election. The district can urge people to get out and vote, but they can’t use ANY district funds or campaign for the proposal during school operating hours. This includes any administrator or employee of the district. School public funds can’t be used to tell voters to vote on a proposal, and they can’t use the district email system.

Stay tuned, there is more to come!