LANSING - The State Board of Education will meet February 23 to finalize the process to select the next State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The State Board will refine the job description and employment criteria for prospective applicants at this special meeting.
The State Board will make the process collaborative by asking Governor Jennifer Granholm, state legislators, and education stakeholders from across the state to offer input on what they would like to include in the criteria. The appointment of the Superintendent is the Constitutional responsibility of the State Board of Education.
"This person must be able to work with and for the State Board of Education, but with and for the Governor as well," said Board President Kathleen N. Straus at Tuesday’s Board meeting. "(The new Superintendent) must work with the Board, the Executive Office, and the legislature. It’s a big job. We know somebody’s out there who is up to this task."
State Board members agreed on the importance of this appointment and the need not to rush the process.
The Board officially accepted Tuesday the resignation of Superintendent Tom Watkins, effective March 9. Board members thanked Watkins for his nearly four years of service as Superintendent and wished him well in his future endeavors.
The Board then appointed Deputy Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Jeremy Hughes, Ph.D., as Acting Superintendent until March 10, when he will become Interim Superintendent until a new Superintendent is appointed and begins those duties.
In other action by the State Board: The state’s EducationYES! school accreditation system was modified to limit the effect school self-assessed Performance Indicators can have on the school’s overall Report Card grade. A school’s Performance Indicators grade will no longer be able to lift that school’s overall grade by more than one grade level. In other words, if a school’s Achievement Grade is a D, its Performance Indicators grade can lift the overall school grade to only a C. Performance Indicators are a portion of the school accreditation system that allows schools to report on measures other than MEAP test scores to grade school quality.
The State Board also addressed the issue of lapsed federal dollars by the state, as pointed out in a joint press release from a Michigan Congressman and state legislator. Acting Superintendent Hughes explained that these funds identified in the press release were from 1998. These federal education funds pass through from the federal government to local schools for various local programs. If at the end of each year a local school doesn't draw down all of its allocation, those funds get returned to the federal government.
Hughes explained that the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) last year told states that they could apply to re-open those lapsed funds for re-use. Michigan applied to re-open those funds, but was denied along with 48 other states.
He said the Michigan Department of Education has since implemented mechanisms to monitor local use of federal dollars so as little as possible gets lapsed back, but State Board members asked the Department to pursue partnerships with Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) to help monitor and address the systemic issues between the state and local school districts in regard to the utilization of the complex federal funding system.
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