The Skillman Foundation

This op-ed was originally published in The Detroit News.

Nearly four years ago, I moved from Illinois to Michigan. While we often talk about the flow of people from Detroit to Chicago, I was part of a quieter, less conventional movement in the opposite direction. Why?

First: less political theater. Michigan is a proudly purple state. We are small towns and sparkling cities. We are nature and culture. We are red and blue, sometimes both at once. Our counties flip, our leaders shift, and we tend to reject the idea that shouting matches change lives. We want to get things done, for our families and for our neighbors, and then go about our day.

Second: bipartisanship runs deep. Because of who we are—and because we see that the challenges in Detroit mirror those in the U.P.—we understand that working together isn’t a compromise, it’s a necessity.  Sure, there’s political posturing like anywhere, but more often than not, the real work in Michigan crosses party lines. That’s how we move things across the finish line.

Third: we’re wide awake to the fact that our public systems must evolve if we want a thriving future. The Grow Michigan Together Council made that crystal clear. To build a future Michigan we all want to call home, we need a focus on the fundamentals: strong education offerings and opportunities, pathways to higher degrees, reliable transportation, and walkable communities to attract and keep young people for the long term.

Let’s start with education.

At The Skillman Foundation, we invest over $20 million annually to help transform the public education system for and with young people. Because the truth is, everyone agrees: education needs to work better, for everyone. That means deep investment, yes. But it also requires structural changes to increase clarity, effectiveness, and accountability. And we need innovation at the heart of instruction—through curriculum, teaching, and evaluation—to reflect the realities of today’s world.

Here’s the good news: we’re not starting from scratch. Michigan’s public education system is the single most effective way to reach all Michiganians. With nearly 1.4 million students and hundreds of thousands of educators, and more than 3,100 public schools (traditional and charter) across the state, the delivery infrastructure is already in place.

These schools are more than service providers—they are trusted institutions. Despite the challenges they face, they are there for every student, every day. If we strengthen what’s already working and listen to the people closest to the classroom, we can build a system that works for the long haul.

That’s why it’s so powerful to see young people leading. Jia Patel, a high school student in Grand Blanc, is leading the charge to create a program that would give students a seat on school boards. “School boards decide on a lot of the things that directly impact schools,” she says, “and not having student voice can really change the outcomes.”

She’s not asking for a symbolic gesture—she’s making the case that students bring something essential to the table. “From my own experiences, I have only seen very positive outcomes from giving youth the space to be engaged,” she explains. “We’re able to present plans that adults don’t necessarily see or want to focus on.”

Her effort isn’t about partisanship. It’s about partnership, about showing how students and adults can work together to create better schools for everyone. That’s leadership. That’s what hope looks like.

And it reminds us: common ground is not only possible—it’s already being modeled by the very students our system is meant to serve. It also transcends politics. Who among us doesn’t want our kids to be engaged, to feel invested, to help build the very future they’ll inherit?

In short, Michigan has all the ingredients to make something big happen. We have bipartisan ideas. We have the will. And we have the mechanism—our public education system—to get us there. But it needs a reboot.

This is our Michigan moment. In a time of great disruption in education across the country, how can Michigan lead? By rejecting the noise from Washington and embracing our own, common-sense approach. Let’s center bipartisan solutions. Let’s fuel bold, Michigan-born ideas. Let’s put students at the center of a movement for public education transformation.

We need Republicans and Democrats. Students, teachers, unions, and parents. Faith leaders and business leaders. All of us.

Because when we come together around a shared vision for education, all of Michigan succeeds.