A year after taking over the troubled Highland Park School District, the charter school management company now overseeing the district is reporting improved scores in reading and math.

The Leona Group cited improved reading and math testing scores for grades 2 through 8 from the fall of 2012 to the spring of 2013 in the new Highland Park Public School Academy System.

The improvement is significant because Highland Park is at the center of an ACLU class-action lawsuit that claims the state failed to ensure students were reading at grade level and the state "should know" the Leona Group "is incapable of producing appropriate results."

The ACLU filed its lawsuit July 12, 2012, and then amended it Aug. 8, 2012, to include The Leona Group, which had just taken over the school district.

"It was important that The Leona Group was included in the complaint because it is one of the entities legally responsible for these students and the reforms we may come to," said Rena Elmir, deputy director of the ACLU-Michigan, in an email. "It's vital that the entity in charge of delivering quality education to the students of Highland Park has a seat at the table as we craft solutions."

But the ACLU did more than just add the charter school company as a defendant. The ACLU said the state was "cavalier" when it didn't ensure The Leona Group had a track record to ensure "all students could achieve basic literacy skills."

The lawsuit uses The Leona Group’s Saginaw Preparatory Academy as an example of potential issues and cited unsatisfactory MEAP test scores at that school as evidence.

However, the state of Michigan included Saginaw Preparatory Academy as a "real success" story as one of its "Beating the Odds Schools" in 2010-11 for overcoming barriers to learning such as low economic status and proficiency with English.

When factoring in such things as socio-economic status of the students, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy gave Saginaw Preparatory Academy an "A" grade on its performance report card, and ranked it as the 22^nd best elementary/middle schools in the state in an analysis looking at 2009-2012.

Elmir said being cited by the state as a "Beating the Odds Schools" doesn't constitute a "track record."

"However, our criticism was and continues to be about the process and the quality controls surrounding the bid process or, in the case of Highland Park, the lack of one," Elmir said.

Audrey Spalding, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s director of education policy, said the ACLU alleges that its lawsuit is motivated by past performance at the district, but the conventional district is no longer in charge of the schools.

"Is this lawsuit about poor performance, or is it about charter companies running failed public schools?" Spalding said.

As a conventional public school, Highland Park was spending nearly $20,000 per student, but not performing basic upkeep at schools. Students said the school was so dirty, mice were seen running around the classrooms.

The Rockford Education Association union says it rewards teachers who give money to support political candidates with "personal days off," a practice the superintendent of the west Michigan school district said he would "never, ever condone" and was not something the district would approve.

Eric Doster, general counsel for the state Republican Party, said it would be an illegal political contribution if the union was giving its personal days to teachers in return for political contributions.

The practice was mentioned in the REA's May 14 meeting minutes.* In a section in the minutes about the need for a political action committee chairperson, the minutes state that dues money collected from teachers can only be used for issues related to education and not political candidates. They also stated that Rockford had a low rate of participation in contributing to political action committees (PACs), which are used to financially support political candidates.

"This person would be responsible for motivating people, collecting contributions and sending them in," the meeting minutes read. "This chairperson could still offer incentives like personal days."

REA Union President Suzy Clements said the chairperson would be allowed to use the personal days that are in the teacher's union contract and are allowed to be used for union business. Clements said the union has been doing this for 20 years and compared the awarding of personal days to teachers who contribute to political action committees as "a prize."

Rockford Superintendent Michael Shibler said the school district does not financially compensate union officers for their union related responsibilities. He said the district does not compensate or provide any incentive to union members for any union political activity and the union does not approve personal business days for union activities.

"I would never, ever condone that," Shibler said in an email. "It is inappropriate and not something I would support."

Shibler said the contract allows for 18 days allocated for union leaders, such as the union president, to conduct administratively approved business such as negotiations and meetings.

The Secretary of State's office said it wouldn't comment on the matter other than to investigate if it received a formal complaint.

*Editor's Note: The union appears to have removed the minutes from its website. The link above is to a saved version of those meeting minutes.