Package aimed at helping state qualify for federal aid for schools
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing -- Michigan has two weeks to finalize its application for about $400 million in federal "Race to the Top" cash, following Gov. Jennifer Granholm's signing of education reform bills Monday aimed at qualifying for the aid.
The five-bill package will raise the state's dropout age to 18, tie teacher pay and job security to student achievement and open about 30 new charter schools.
"The reason this is so significant is now everything will be focused on: 'Is this child learning?' " Granholm said. "It's all about academic progress."
State schools Superintendent Michael Flanagan added: "This is a game changer forever."
Granholm also said there should be clear authority for emergency financial managers, such as Robert Bobb in the Detroit Public Schools, to also be emergency academic managers, which would allow those leaders to take over entire districts.
Deadline for the state Department of Education to complete application for the federal aid is Jan. 19. But Flanagan said it's his sense that only a couple of states will be awarded grants in the first round and the others will be given feedback and asked to reapply in April.
"If Michigan is one of the first two or three, that would be great," he said. "But there are 50 states. You do the math."
Local districts are expected to send letters of support by the end of this week, Flanagan said. But union leaders argued in a statement Monday it doesn't make sense to sign off on an application