COX: Michigan’s education failure is no mystery — it’s a choice
Michigan is spending more and getting less. That is unacceptable.
Last Friday, I was the only Republican who showed up to the Michigan Education Association’s gubernatorial forum. I did not go expecting their endorsement. I went in knowing their leadership will never endorse me, and will actively work against me.
I went anyway because Michigan’s education crisis is too serious to let union bosses monopolize the conversation. And because the teachers who do the work every day deserve to hear something they rarely get at those events: the truth.
I have spent my career confronting powerful institutions when they failed the people they were supposed to serve, first as Michigan’s Attorney General and later running my own law firm. Here is what I learned: when failure persists year after year, it is rarely because no one knows what to do. It is because the people in charge refuse to act.
That lesson applies directly to Michigan’s education system.
The forum was dominated by the political class the unions help elect and protect. Unlike Jocelyn Benson and Mike Duggan, I’m not comfortable with the status quo, and I’m out to change it. I also went because I believe in something the political establishment has forgotten: you can disagree and still talk to each other. You can challenge power without demonizing teachers. You can spar with union leadership without picking a fight with every educator in the state.
And I made three things clear.
First: Michigan is spending more and getting less. That is unacceptable.
Second: education freedom matters to parents and teachers. I support school choice, and I will not apologize for it.
Third: reading is fundamental. As governor, I will demand that Michigan takes the science of reading seriously, holds schools accountable for results, and makes it our goal that every child can read by third grade.
Our schools are failing too many children, not because kids cannot learn, and not because teachers do not care, but because the system is built to protect adults and institutions before it serves students.
My grandchildren attend public school in Mississippi. And by the measures that matter most, my grandchildren are getting a stronger education than most of the kids who live where I live in Livonia.
Let that sink in.
Here is the truth: the purpose of education is to help every child reach their full God-given potential. That takes high expectations, clear goals, and honest information parents can understand. And it takes freedom: families should be able to take their education funding and move to a better option.
That moral purpose is exactly why the usual excuses in Lansing are not good enough. The first excuse you will hear is that we are not spending enough. I have dealt with enough money-hungry politicians and lobbyists to be skeptical when that is the first answer.
And sure enough, if money fixed education, Michigan would be leading the country. Instead, Michigan is top five in spending and bottom five in results. This is not a funding problem. It is a prioritization problem. Dollars do not matter if they do not reach classrooms, support great teachers, and empower parents.
The real solution requires disciplined leadership, built on proven solutions.
In the past 12 years Mississippi has risen from being 48th in 3rd grade reading scores to 9th in the Nation, while we fell from 31st to 48th! People call it the “Mississippi Miracle.” It was no miracle. It was leadership: the governor and legislature chose a clear plan and executed it.
Mississippi embraced science-based reading instruction grounded in phonics, early intervention, and making sure every student can read before advancing. It set clear expectations. It demanded more of the adults in the system. It supported teachers with coaching and training, identified struggling students early, and intervened before those kids fell permanently behind.
It wasn’t ideological. It was responsible.
Michigan chose a different path.
We debated settled science. We chased education fads. We promoted students who were failing. We lowered standards so fewer schools would look bad on paper. And when outcomes stagnated, the response was not urgency: It was denial. The result is predictable. Too many Michigan children reach fourth grade unable to read proficiently. Too many parents learn the truth only after critical years are lost. Too many graduates leave school unprepared for college, work, and life.
That is not compassion. It is neglect. And as governor, I will end this neglect.
The turnaround starts with accountability. Real accountability is simple: high expectations, transparent information parents can understand, and consequences when schools fail to meet student needs.
The strongest form of accountability is empowered parents who are allowed to choose the best education for their children. When parents can choose and schools have to earn trust, the system has to improve. When families can take their child’s education funding and move to a better option, adults in the system finally feel the urgency children live with every day.
That is why union leadership fights parental choice so hard. It threatens their control.
We already know what works. The fundamentals and freedom. What we lack is the courage to confront the interests that benefit from failure.
As governor, I will push accountability. I will put parents and children first. I will back teachers with training and tools they need – and demand the results our children deserve. I will set expectations worthy of our kids. And I will expand education freedom so parents, not union bosses, have the final say.