Democrat Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she would not close Detroit's persistently failing schools if elected governor, and instead would push to financially punish government entities that don't shut down poor-performing charter schools.

Whitmer said she would take action to penalize public universities, community colleges and other government entities that authorize the creation of taxpayer-supported charters schools if they refused to close bad schools.

"A strong executive could use the power of the budget to ensure that authorizers are scrutinizing and holding charters to high standards," Whitmer said in an interview with Crain's. "If you use the power of the office on that side of the budget, where the bulk of the support comes from, you could pressure them into closing bad charters."

Whitmer is a former Michigan Senate minority leader who is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for governor in the August 2018 primary.

The East Lansing Democrat, who spent 14 years in the Legislature before being term-limited in 2014, would have to get approval from lawmakers to cut state aid for public universities that authorize — and shield — bad charter schools.

Whitmer said she doesn't consider financial penalties for charter school authorizers an indirect punishment of students at public universities like Central Michigan University and Grand Valley State University, two of the leading authorizers of charter schools.

"I think we need someone who's going to dig in and fight for the kids of this state," Whitmer said. "And I think that's one of the ways that you could do it."

Under state law, universities, community colleges and even school districts like Detroit that authorize charter schools can charge up to 3 percent of the school's budget to pay for administrative costs.

Jared Burkhart, executive director of the Michigan Council of Charter School Authorizers, said Whitmer is picking sides with teachers unions that don't represent charter school educators.

"It's not about what's best for the kids," Burkhart said. "It's really about a political agenda."

In taking a strong stance against charter schools with low test scores, Whitmer said she wouldn't hold traditional public schools to the same school shutdown standard.

"The states that are successfully turning around schools are states that put more supports around schools that are struggling," Whitmer said. "They don't abandon families by closing."

Whitmer argues that school systems like Detroit Public Schools Community District aren't operating on the same playing field as charter schools, which can be operated by for-profit management companies.

"I think that the fundamental difference with charters is that they're not held to the same standards, that they don't have to operate expensive high schools that have to provide transportation," Whitmer said.

Charter schools also educate fewer high-cost special education students than DPSCD and other school districts in Wayne County.

The Michigan Council of Charter School Authorizers represents the state's 10 largest charter school authorizers: CMU, GVSU, Bay Mills Community College, Eastern Michigan University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Northern Michigan University, Oakland University, Saginaw Valley State University and DPSCD.

The Detroit school district has 13 charter schools, Burkhart said.

"We've been opening more and more high schools as the growth of the charter school movement has been moving to upper grades," Burkhart said. "If (Whitmer) wants to try to punish authorizers because they're trying to do good work for students, I think that's very unfortunate."

School closures in Detroit has been a controversial topic this winter after the state's School Reform Office moved to close 25 schools in the city.

Just one of the schools slated to close is a charter school; the rest are run by DPSCD and the Education Achievement Authority, which will be folded back into the city school district in June.

The Detroit school system and nine other districts are in negotiations with the Michigan Department of Education and State Superintendent Brian Whiston over entering into a new form of state oversight to avoid closures for at least 18 months.

"The state superintendent continues to have very constructive meetings with the ten school districts that have expressed interest in developing partnership agreements," Martin Ackley, spokesman for the Department of Education, said Wednesday in an email. "None have been finalized yet."

To date, Whitmer is the biggest name politician who has jumped into the 2018 race for governor on either side. Abdul El-Sayed, M.D., a former Detroit health director, quit his city job in February to launch a campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor.