Senate Republicans say that the education reform package introduced this week will give parents more power over their children’s education but teachers say it’s actually a union-busting move that will destroy a public education system weakened by recent funding cuts.

The seven bill package would remove limits on the number of charter and cyber schools, allow parents and teachers to force schools to convert into charters, and let districts hire teachers through private companies.

It also imposes new requirements on schools, specifying that students be allowed to simultaneously enroll in high school and college courses beginning in the 9th grade, that schools accept students from out of district, and that services be provided for homeschoolers and private school students.

“This is just a continuation of the Republican attack on public education and the middle class,” said Doug Pratt, spokesman for the Michigan Education Association.

Michigan tried charter schools and school choice back in the 90‘s, he said, and it hasn’t improved education.

“You cant do this stuff without adequate resources,” he said. “They just got done slashing a billion dollars from public education.”

Removing the limit on the number of charter schools without creating a new mechanism for accountability in those schools is irresponsible, Pratt said.

Sen. Education Committee chair Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair) sponsored the bill to allow privatization of teaching.

Pavlov did not respond to a request for an interview but he told the Michigan Association of Secondary Principals that he sees the measure as “offering options.”

“If there is something out there that can offer school officials the same options at a lower cost, schools need to take a look at that,” he said. “It needs to part of the conversation on reform.”

Pratt called Pavlov’s proposal “selling off our education system to the lowest bidder” and predicted that the plan will become politically unpopular when schools lay off all their teachers.

Many schools have already privatized busing, food service, custodial and other services and some have found that the change has resulted in higher turnover and less accountability.

The Waverly school system near Lansing outsourced its child care program this year, but when school started this week there was no day care available because the company — Rainbow Child Care Center — was unable to get licensed by the state.

Patty Seidl, Lansing Schools Education Association President, said that the privatization of substitute teachers has resulted in less qualified subs in the schools.

“We used to have building subs — three people who reported every day. They knew the system and the curriculum. They would be there for emergencies and the kids knew them,” she said. “Now you take whomever the company sends.”

Seidl said that privatizing teaching will lower teacher pay and drive more people out of the profession.

“No one is going to want to go through the system and get a five year education to make $20,000-$25,000,” she said. “You can’t live on this.”

Under the current system most teachers live in and are engaged with the communities where they teach, she said, and people outside the schools will also be harmed if teachers’ jobs are degraded.

“I think the whole idea of education and students has been totally lost in all of the reforms,” she said. “It is really painful to watch all of this happen. These legislators are attacking us and it us unfortunate what is going to happen to our kids as a result of this.”

In an interview with Mother Jones magazine last week education history and former Bush administration Education Dept. official Diane Ravitch said that the Senate education package in Michigan is the first time she’s heard lawmakers anywhere propose privatizing teaching.