Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley cheers for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s call for parental choice.  But pay particular attention to what she identifies as the stakes for Detroit:

The mayor’s efforts come at a time when the Detroit schools are in turmoil. They are in debt and losing students by the thousands. The school board, after initially announcing it would close as many as 50 schools, voted last week to close none. But they come also as the mayor leads redevelopment that has received national notice…

Detroit has an estimated adult illiteracy rate of 47%. Its middle class is still moving to the suburbs or out of state. We’re headed for a single-state depression. Only Detroit can save it, and only if the city fixes education.

Due to the ongoing woes of the American car industry, Michigan is in an economic tailspin.  Everybody knows it, especially with a new report indicating bleak times ahead for the state.  So is it really any surprise that there’s increased interest on the part of businesses in education reform?  I commented earlier on Robert Thompson’s attempted philanthropy in Motor City; consider efforts by Detroit businessman and former Detroit Pistons star  Dave Bing to help Thompson:

Bing, an African American, later told the Detroit Free Press, “When I heard how Bob was treated, it just didn’t make sense to me. I knew there was a need. From a selfish standpoint, as a businessperson, I need educated people on my work force. I’m not anti-public schools. But I don’t think they will fix public schools quick enough to stop the drain. And if parents and children don’t have other options, it’s a lose-lose proposition for both the public schools and the city of Detroit.”

I’m dismayed by the browbeating some businesses receive when they try to get involved in education reform.  The subtext is generally one of greed: “why, these money-grubbing companies only want to get their mitts in schools so they can soak the kids/parents/taxpayers.”  However, there doesn’t seem to be any meaningful recognition that businesses might actually have some perfectly appropriate reasons for getting involved in education reform–or that kids (not to mention communities) might actually benefit from such involvement.  Consider this article, which suggests there’s actually an ongoing global labor shortage.  Michigan desperately needs to diversify its economy away from manufacturing and do all it can to take advantage of this situation.  But it needs a labor force capable of stepping up to the plate, and with nearly half of Detroit functionally illiterate, education reform has got to happen.  I think would-be edureformers need to better acknowledge the close ties between urban renewal and education reform–it can help explain why people and organizations with no apparent connection to education become interested in change.