By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
Governor Granholm says the state should to be able to name emergency academic managers to run school districts that are failing students. She says Detroit students' record low math scores shows the need for state intervention in the operations of some struggling schools.
The state is allowed to name emergency managers when school districts' finances are in disarray. In Detroit, emergency manager Robert Bobb is fighting with the board of education over academic control of the schools.
Governor Granholm says the Detroit schools' academic performance is unacceptable, and there are other Michigan schools that are also struggling to teach students.
"And this is why it's important for us, in the same way when you have a financial emergency, you appoint an emergency financial manager, that person also needs to be able to address the academic emergency," she says.
School reforms being debated by the Legislature would allow the state to name emergency academic managers of failing schools. It's one of the requirements of qualifying for federal education reform funds.