What the heck is skills camp? Good question.

The need for a practical answer was this week averted in the Buena Vista School District, where 400 kids would have been used as living lab rats to test it out. It's been 20 years since a Michigan school district shut down early over funding. Skills camp has no precedent.

You could be forgiven if you imagined public education as an ongoing skills camp, where kids are taught English, history, government and the sciences. After all, they're there to develop skills necessary not only to forge a career, but to make sound contributions as citizens.

In a state where education is talked about as nothing more than a conduit into a career, skills camp sounds an awful lot like a place where kids would go to learn how to push a broom in this increasingly economically stratified society.

Buena Vista High School in Buena Vista Township almost closed - a sign that Michigan schools may be in crisis, not just one school district.

Fortunately, on Tuesday night the Buena Vista School Board passed a deficit reduction plan that ended the need for skills camp, whatever that was going to be. Deficits will be reduced, state aid will again flow, kids may yet get to finish the school year.

That last bit, which some might argue is actually the most important part of the equation, is written into the state constitution as an obligation of the state. At one time, very long ago, people took that document seriously.

There isn't much reason to have a lot of sympathy for the people who manage the school district. They did a terrible job. Their district went broke. They accepted state aid for a program they no longer operated.

They weren't helped, however, by continued disinvestment in education by the state. When voters chose to pay for public education through proceeds of a sales tax hike in the 90s, they made state government ultimately responsible for funding schools. Local districts can still ask taxpayers for money, but the day of the millage renewal to maintain operations ended almost 20 years ago with Proposal A.

That shift was prompted by the early closure of the Kalkaska School District. Back in those days, a school district shutting down early sent the message that the entire system was broken. Today, we just get skills camp. It's not a crisis or a sign that things have gone horribly awry. It's the fault of the local school board and greedy teachers unions, right?

As it has in so many other places, however, state government has done a terrible job of living up to its promises. Much of what happened in Buena Vista was a self-inflicted wound, but matters weren't helped when just two years ago the governor and state Legislature financed a $1.8 billion tax cut for businesses through -- among other things -- cuts to education.

That's perhps the most dramatic example of a trend since Proposal A was passed. Even in years when state funding held steady, thanks to inflation, rising pension obligations and energy costs still amounted to a cut in local spending power.

In fact, the underreported part of the story is that Buena Vista is not alone in financial distress. Up until a few weeks ago, it was simply one of more than a dozen local school districts whose finances were a matter of concern.

The Pontiac School District averted joining Buena Vista in closing its doors by adopting its own deficit reduction plan before the money ran out.

The response to this by state government -- intended or not -- has been a form of social Darwinism. Schools that fail aren't a sign of crisis, but part of a natural evolution in education. Fit operators will find ways to innovate with fewer dollars.

It's a cold, remorseless way to treat children, who in the case of Buena Vista were poorly served by everyone.

Eric Baerren is a weekly columnist for The Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant and runs the website Michigan Liberal. He can be reached at ebaerren@gmail.com.