Interview with Brian Broderick from the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools
Announcer: Welcome to Inside Michigan Education, a weekly show featuring interviews with community leaders, school administrators, school business officials, and individuals who are passionate about the future of Michigan Education. Now, here is your host for Inside Michigan Education, Rob Huisingh.
Rob Huisingh: Welcome to Inside Michigan Education, this week we are joined in the Foxbright Podcast Studio by Brian Broderick. Brian is the Executive Director of the Michigan Association for Non-Public Schools. Welcome Brian, it's a pleasure to have you on the show.
Brian Broderick: Thank you Rob, it's great to be here.
Rob Huisingh: Brian, take few minutes to tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
Brian Broderick: Sure, I grew up in Southeast Michigan in the Detroit area and attended parochial schools throughout my career, both for elementary school, high school, and college as well. So I am well-versed in Catholic Education over the years. I attended the University of Notre Dame for Undergrad and went to the University of Detroit Law School, practiced law for about six or seven years and then started again into more government affairs work. At one point in my career, I worked for the Michigan Catholic Conference doing education policy issues, and that's where I really got familiar with the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools and interacted quite closely with then Executive Director Glen Walstra as well as the Board.
I left the Catholic Conference for about five year period and went and worked as a Legislative Director for a Business Labor Organization, based at Suburban Detroit, and then just recently in July of 2007, was asked to become the Executive Director for the Non-Public School Association. So that is a little bit about my background.
Rob Huisingh: Alright, that leads nicely into the next question which is, tell us a little bit about the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools.
Brian Broderick: Sure, we are a group of association of schools, statewide association of schools, we are made up of the schools in the seven Catholic Diocese in the State of Michigan. The Lutheran schools, Missouri Senate, Christian Schools International District too which are primarily in the west side of the State and it's a Christian Reformed Schools. Then just most recently in the last month-and-a-half, we were approached by the Association of Christian Schools International which is the ACSI Schools. They have a more of a statewide presence in the other CSI schools because you will find some of their schools in Northern Michigan and in the southeast part of the State. So we have now added ACSI as a member of our organization as well.
Rob Huisingh: What is the typical role that your members would expect you to play?
Brian Broderick: Well, we do a multitude of things when the organization was first started it was really there as an avenue to deal with the legislature and public policy issues for all the non-public faith-based schools in the State. We have grown over the years to provide really a lot of benefits to our members. We put on conferences for our teachers, we put on administrator conference, we have various programs for energy program where we are trying and aggregate our schools to save them money on the utility side. We have an arm of our organization that provides accrediting for member schools. So our Catholic schools and Lutheran schools are all accredited through the Michigan Non-Profit School Accrediting Association which is a division of MANS.
Then our CSI schools do their own separate accreditation through their own CSI organization. So that is some of the areas that we get involved in, we've also have a MANS parent network where we try and organize parents to help the schools that their children go to in terms of not only their own child's academic success, but also to have input into legislative issues and public policy issues and wherever we could feel the parents can best serve their children and their students in schools.
Rob Huisingh: Okay, could you say how many members do you actually have at this point?
Brian Broderick: We have 516 pre-K through 12 members which serve about 105,000 students in the State. It is about 10% of the school population in Michigan.
Rob Huisingh: Okay, and what percentage of the Parochial schools is that?
Brian Broderick: Of the Parochial schools, I would say it is probably 90% of the Parochial schools in the State.
Rob Huisingh: So, almost full coverage.
Brian Broderick: Almost full coverage, there are some non-public faith-based schools that are not part of our organization, just thinking of the top may had, there are some Evangelical Lutheran schools that are not part of our group. Seventh-day Adventist schools are not part of our group and there are probably other individual schools that are faith-based, that are not part of the MANS group, but overall --
Rob Huisingh: A less than 10%.
Brian Broderick: Yeah, less than 10%.
Rob Huisingh: So when you are speaking, you truly -- when you are speaking at the legislature, you are speaking with a fairly strong coalition of the parochial schools behind you.
Brian Broderick: We like to think so, we have great agreement among our schools, Christian schools in the state. The Board is made up of the superintendents of all the Catholic schools in the diocese of the State as well as the Lutheran School Superintendent and the CSI representation as well. So we think we are pretty unified voice for Christian education in the State.
Rob Huisingh: Yeah, I have to say, this show has been predominantly focused with public education and with regard to that, we perhaps have neglected the parochial and non-public side of the equation. So it is great to have you on this show. I really appreciate you being here.
Obviously, we hear an awful lot of funding issues which are impacting the public school. So how are the non-public schools fairing these days?
Brian Broderick: They are doing well, I mean, there is a downturn in our attendance really and downturn in our enrollment. I think part of it is cyclical; part of it is the economy which is everybody is struggling with; part of it is just simply demographic, there are not as many children anymore as there used to be in terms of the school-aged children, and so you are going to see a loss of enrollment in those areas.
Our schools are unique; we don't have any state funding. So our schools are all tuition-based, and we rely heavily on parents and the community and parishes where schools are attached to churches to help subsidize and support our schools.
Rob Huisingh: External donations as well, I can imagine. What are some of the challenges that you are seeing the non-public schools facing today?
Brian Broderick: It is primarily financial challenges, there are schools in urban areas that are closing and have been closing prior over the last 10 or 15 years, the financial model of parents making contributions to the school are paying tuition, really has in some regards not worked out very well in certain areas of the state and especially in urban areas. So that is really the big challenge that our schools face is, remaining financially viable in these trying times.
We think that there are avenues out there, there are private scholarships, there are various things that we can do that we try to do to support our schools, but in the end it becomes a decision of a diocese or a decision of a parish that they can't make ends meet, they have to close the school and we regret it that it happens. But we see it is sort of the fact of life and there are other models so we can come up with, consolidation of schools and various other ways, I can do it to try and bolster up what remains in those city schools.
Rob Huisingh: It seems there is an awful lot of discussion, not necessarily around consolidating school districts, but certainly around consolidation of activities and in business practices and going on in the public side, and I could imagine that that must be going on your side as well.
Brian Broderick: Sure, yeah it has and it's been going on for years, I know that there is a large discussion about the number of public school districts in the state and why do we need that many public school districts and can we consolidate those activities? And in the same sense, we have the same discussion here with our schools in the non-public world. Is there a way to consolidate those schools to provide the same services? But yet bring it together so we are not losing money.
Rob Huisingh: And just not shutting down schools.
Brian Broderick: And not shutting down schools, right.
Rob Huisingh: Is there a particular tradeshow or event that goes on with regard to your organization?
Brian Broderick: Sure, every three years we have a large Teachers' Conference and it is for administrators as well. It moves from each side of the State in 2006 it was in Grand Rapids, and in 2009 it will be in Detroit. In the off years, we have an Administrator Conference, there is one coming up this fall at Mackinaw Island, where we bring together about 250-300 of our principals throughout the State. It is really professional development type activities. That really occupies a lot, predominant amount of our time with our office, we have a three-person office in Lansing, we are housed in the Michigan Catholic Conference building. So that takes up a bulk of our time, but we also do a lot of work in providing services for our schools, the accreditation which I already mentioned as well as energy program, and on the other ways we think we can benefit the operations of our school.
Rob Huisingh: Is there a particular communication vehicle that you have, that you use to reach out?
Brian Broderick: We primarily use Internet or email, or we use our website or website probably using isn't as active, or interactive as we want it to be. But we do biweekly, we call it MANS Notes to communicate to our administrators. What's going on in Lansing, what's going on in opportunities that are out there in terms of grands, dollars available. So that's really where our communication lies.
Rob Huisingh: Now, I am sure that as you do your work with the legislature that there are efforts that you are lobbying for, any particular effort that you are in favor of that you think would be helpful?
Brian Broderick: Sure, one overwriting issue that MANS has been involved with since its inception and really which drove its beginnings in the early 70's is aid to non-public schools, it's been before the Michigan voters on a number of occasions. It hasn't met with much success. Michigan has a constitutional prohibition against any sort of aid to non-public schools, and it's a tough hurdle to overcome. But in the coming years, we are hopeful that we would have yet another attempt that whether it'd be a tax-credit which would be some indirect aid to schools, it would be direct aid to the parents who send their child to non-public school, but that's an issue that's sort of hanging out there that we always -- every five or six years, I think becomes a little bit more doable or applausable to look at that issue again and see if there is a way that we can really bring choice -- true school choice to parents in Michigan.
Rob Huisingh: Seems that whether we are talking about the purely and simply I know the economics of it must be daunting to think about it, but even on a small scale with a tax-credit for parents obviously that are sending their children to schools which are not being funded in any way, shape, or form by the government, it would seem that there should be some recognition of that contribution, because they are truly expending a lot of money to do so.
Brian Broderick: Yeah, we like the think so, You know, in fact our schools being called the Non-Public School really is sort of a misnomer, it's what the state legislature has called us over the years in the beginning when they started talking about what our schools do. We are referred as non-public schools, we are really public schools, we are open to the public, we perform a public function for about 10% of the students in the State and that is providing in education.
So our hope is that we could find a mechanism or a way to drive some of those dollars to help support that public function that our schools actually do provide for the citizens in Michigan, and we do provide it I think very well. Our students score well in tests, they do well, they are motivated kids, they are motivated in large part because their parents are motivated to get them to the school and pay tuition dollars.
So we think any sort of avenue whether it'd be a tax-credit or some sort of direct aid to those parents and students would be helpful, and I would submit if you have a tax-credit, it should be open to everybody. Public school students as well, I know for a fact in the area that I lived they have fees that are involved, their parents have to pay for their children to play sports or technology fees and things like that. So if you could create a wide-open -- a wide-spread tax-credit for all citizens of Michigan to help advance the education of their children, I think it will be a wonderful opportunity and I think we would really drive home the fact that Michigan really is an education state and that we support all children, no matter where their parents choose to send them to school.
Rob Huisingh: Well, if you think about the fact that 10% of the students which otherwise would be attending public schools and they are cost associated with that, are being handled completely outside of the system, they are granted at the request of -- at the behest of the parents and the students. But still, that's a recognizable chunk of expenses which are not being levied against the government and certainly something worth considering.
Brian Broderick: I think so too, Rob. Hopefully in the coming years, we will be able to pull together a coalition, a broad-based coalition throughout the entire state to move something forward in that regard because I think it would really be beneficial to the state and to its population here in Michigan and parents, students, schools.
Rob Huisingh: Okay, and speaking out to our audience, is there any particular message that you would like to convey?
Brian Broderick: Sure, we appreciate all the support that our schools have gotten over the years. Our schools I think are unique because we have parent involvement and it seems it's sort of a natural involvement because our parents are asked to pay tuition to help support the school. So that connection is very important and we like to express our thanks to all those parents who do support, the community that supports their neighborhood schools, whether it's a public school or a non-public school. We think it's very important, education really is a key driving force in our society right now and anything we can do to strengthen education and to get kids prepared for the future in whatever setting is very important.
We think that our schools provide a unique setting. We have Christ-centered education, we have the faith-based element involved in our schools and if that's something that the parents are interested in, we think that that's a viable option that parents should exercise, and hopefully are able to, financially to attend any non-public school in the State.
Rob Huisingh: Yeah, there is often times it's very encouraging when I listen to people, when we talk to people throughout the education situation here in Michigan that there is a very much a 'We are in this together' attitude and it's wonderful to see, it's wonderful to hear. I appreciate you taking the time to be with us, and I hope you'll come back again at some point in time in the future.
Brian Broderick: Okay, thank you very much, Rob, I appreciate it, thanks!
Rob Huisingh: If you would like to contact Brian Broderick or the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, he can be reached by telephone at (517) 372-9315, again that telephone number is (517) 372-9315 and you can visit them online at www.m-a-n-s.org again that URL is www.m-a-n-s.org.
Until next week, this is Rob Huisingh with Inside Michigan Education.
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