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In Reversal, Snyder Returns School Reform Office To Agency

Rick Snyder
Courtesy Photo
The School Reform Office is back under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education.

Gov. Rick Snyder has reversed course and moved Michigan's school turnaround office back to a state department over which he has no direct control.

The move Friday comes two years after Snyder transferred the School Reform Office from the Department of Education — whose leader is hired by elected members of the state Board of Education — to the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. The Republican governor now says moving the office back to the Education Department "will ensure the efficient continuation" of efforts to improve low-performing schools.

The School Reform Office this year received criticism after threatening to close up to 38 schools continually ranked in Michigan's bottom 5 percent. State Superintendent Brian Whiston, head of the Education Department, helped broker deals to delay the potential closures.

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