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State Superintendent testifies for House Education Committee

By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING, MI (MPRN) – LANSING, MI (MPRN) - State Superintendent Michael Flanagan testified Thursday for the state House Education Committee. The committee is discussing major education reform bills.

The superintendent supports the reform bills, which would target 35 of Michigan's failing schools. The schools would be given a year to show improvement in test scores or risk either being shut down or competing with a charter school.

Flanagan says the bottom one percent of public schools find loop holes in current regulation to avoid making too many changes because of poor performance.

He says that where the structure is dysfunctional, the instruction is compromised, and ultimately the students suffer. Flanagan says the situation has gotten to the point where dramatic state intervention is needed.

Flanagan says he's impressed with how emergency financial manager Robert Bobb has called out corruption in Detroit Public Schools. He says he hopes the state will be able to do the same on an academic level, and not just a financial one.

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