By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
Governor Granholm says she would like to see some of the measures in the "Race To The Top" education-reform package pushed further. Granholm wants a state reform officer to be able to take over an entire failing school district, rather than just individual failing schools.
"I think that you've got to have clarity and unity within a district, and a superintendent or an emergency academic officer doesn't need to have the district schools reporting to one person and academically reporting to another," she says. "You need a unified, accountable person who's responsible for the district.
Granholm thinks a first step should be allowing Detroit Public Schools' financial manager Robert Bobb to set the district's curriculum.
The state House Education Committee plans to take testimony on the measure when lawmakers return to Lansing in mid-January.