Skip Navigation
Michigan Department of EducationMichigan.gov, Official Website for the State of Michigan
Michigan.gov Home MDE Home |  Site Map |  Top Topics |  Contact MDE
close print view

Meet the Directors

Mike P. Flanagan Superintendent of Public Instruction
Susan Broman Deputy Superintendent, Office of Great Start
Sally Vaughn Deputy Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer
Carol Wolenberg Deputy Superintendent
Deborah Clemmons State School Reform and Redesign Office
Martin Ackley Office of Public and Governmental Affairs
Lisa Brewer Walraven Office of Child Development and Care
Lindy Buch Office of Early Childhood Education & Family Services
Patty Cantu Office of Career & Technical Education
Linda Foward Office of Improvement and Innovation
Kyle Guerrant Office of School Support
Daniel Hanrahan State Aid and School Finance
Flora Jenkins Office of Professional Preparation and Certification Services
Jane Schultz  Office of Financial Management
Joseph Martineau Office of Educational Assessment & Accountability
Joetta Parker  Office of Human Resources
Mike Radke Office of Field Services
Jeremy Reuter Head Start-State Collaboration Office
Bruce Umpstead Office of Education Technology & Data Coordination
Eleanor White Office of Special Education

 

 

Mike P. Flanagan

Office of the Superintendent

Flanagan
The Superintendent of Public Instruction is appointed by and responsible to the State Board of Education, which is elected at-large on a partisan basis.  The Superintendent sits on Governor's Cabinet, the State Administrative Board, and acts as chair and a non-voting member of the State Board of Education.  The Superintendent advises the Legislature on education policy and funding needs, as defined by the State Board of Education. The Superintendent is responsible for the implementation of bills passed by the Legislature and policies established by the State Board of Education.
Susan Broman

Deputy Superintendent, Office of Great Start

Broman
The Office of Great Start, created by Executive Order No. 2011-8, consolidates early childhood programs and resources under a single agency in an effort to maximize child outcomes, reduce duplication and administrative overhead, and reinvests resources into quality improvement and service delivery. The new office will refocus the state's early childhood investment, policy and administrative structures by adopting a single set of early childhood outcomes.

The initial programs/services that have been brought together in the Office of Great Start are the: Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services, Head Start State Collaboration Office, and the Office of Child Development and Care. Both the Office of Child Development and Care and the Head Start State Collaboration Office were previously housed in the Department of Human Services.

Sally Vaughn

Deputy Superintendent, Chief Academic Officer

Vaughn

The Chief Academic Officer for Education Services is responsible for the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).   To be in compliance with NCLB, the Chief Academic Officer/Deputy Superintendent focuses on teaching and learning for all of Michigan 's educational community, particularly in the areas of accreditation, accountability, school restructuring, and high priority schools.  This position assists the Superintendent of Public Instruction by serving as a member of the Superintendent's leadership team and advising on matters of education policy.  This position also directs the activities and provides leadership and supervision for the department's Offices of

- Educational Assessment and Accountability
- Professional Preparation Services
- School Improvement
- Special Education and Early Intervention Services
- Education Technology and Data Coordination and
-
 Career and Technical Preparation

Carol Wolenberg

Deputy Superintendent

Wolenberg
The Deputy Superintendent for Administrative and Support Services, provides leadership and supervision for: Grants, Coordination & School Support Services; Financial Management; State Aid and School Finance; Administrative Law & Federal Relations; Audit Functions; and Information Technology

The Deputy Superintendent so coordinates collaborative efforts with other state government agencies, serves as the department's emergency management coordinator, oversees the department's responsibilities for school construction, and provides leadership for educational policy initiatives.

Deborah Clemmons

State School Reform and Redesign Office

Clemmons
  • Identification of Persistently Lowest Achieving (PLA) schools
  • Notification of school boards/public school academy authorizers with PLAs
  • Review of redesign plans
  • Notification to school boards/PSA authorizers of Plan Approval/Disapproval
  • Monitoring of redesign plans
  • Establishment of the Reform/Redesign District comprised of schools whose plans were disapproved, and those schools not making significant growth toward student achievement
Martin Ackley

Office of Public and Governmental Affairs

Ackley
Responsible for the internal and external communications for the Michigan Department of Education and the State Board of Education. All media inquires to the Department begin through the Office of Communications. 
Lindy Buch

Office of Early Childhood Education & Family Services

Buch

The Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services manages the Michigan School Readiness Program (state prekindergarten program for four-year-old children at-risk of school failure), parent education and involvement programs, Early On (Part C of IDEA), early childhood special education programs (Part B of IDEA), the Even Start Family Literacy Program, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and other federal and state programs, as well as providing assistance and consultation to programs serving children birth through age 8 (grade 3).

Patty Cantu

Office of Career & Technical Education

The Office of Career and Technical Education oversees high school instructional programs that teach students skills in a specific career cluster.  Most programs offer early college credit opportunities to provide a seamless transition to postsecondary education.  The mission of the office is to prepare students so they have the necessary academic, technical, and work behavior skills to enter, compete, and advance in education and their careers.

Linda Forward

Office of Education Improvement and Innovation

Linda Forward
  • High School reform
  • Curriculum and Instruction
  • Public School Academies
  • High Priority Schools
  • School Improvement
  • Educational Options (dual enrollment, alternative education, advanced placement, international baccalaureate)
  • Educational Technology (competitive grants for Title II, Part D and other educational technology issues)
Kyle Guerrant

Office of School Support

Kyle Guerrant

Office of Grants Coordination and School Support covers a wide range of topics and programs, including school and summer meals; child and adult care food; free United States Department of Agriculture commodity food distribution; coordinated school health and safety; pupil transportation; educational technology (educational technology plans, technology literacy standards, and e-rate); and grant procurement and distribution. Please explore our website for in-depth coverage of these topics. Please feel free to contact our staff, should you require additional information.

Daniel Hanrahan

Office of State Aid and School Finance

Hanrahan

Distribution of funds to school districts, guidance on issues of school finance and tax policy, public school district financial accounting, various financing mechanisms available to school districts, and information on pupil accounting statutes and rules, also interpretation, analysis, and coordination of Departmental activities related to the annual development of the State School Aid K-12 budget.

Flora Jenkins

Professional Preparation and Certification Services

Jenkins

The Office of Professional Preparation Services (OPPS) fosters the educational achievement of all Michigan youth and adults, Pre-K through 12th grade, by assuring that all professional school personnel complete quality preparation and professional development programs which meet standards established by the Michigan Legislature and the State Board of Education.

Joseph Martineau

Bureau of Educational Assessment & Accountability

.

The Bureau of Educational Assessment and Accountability is comprised of five programs. Michigan Educational Assessment Program and the Merit Examination, Assessment of Students with Disabilities, Assessment of English Language Learners, Accreditation / Accountability, National Assessment of Education progress.

Joetta Parker

Office of Human Resources

Joetta Parker

The mission of the Office of Human Resources is to provide quality, customer focused services to the Department of Education in support of its staffing, development and human resource management needs which are necessary for achieving the State Board's goal for Michigan education.

Jeremy Reuter 

Head Start-State Collaboration Office

The Head Start-State Collaboration Office (HSSCO) is charged with facilitating and enhancing coordination and collaboration between Head Start agencies and other state and local entities that provide comprehensive services designed to benefit all low-income children from birth to age five and their families, as well as pregnant women. HSSCO is responsible for assisting in the building of early childhood systems including access to comprehensive services, encourage wide spread collaboration with appropriate programs and services, and facilitate the involvement of Head Start in policy and planning efforts that affect the Head Start target population and other low-income families.

Mike Radke

Office of Field Services

.Mike Radke
  • Title I, Part A (Improving basic programs);
  • Title I Part C (Education of migratory children);
  • Title I, Part D (Prevention and intervention for delinquent children and youth);
  • Title II, Part A (Teacher and principal training and recruiting);
  • Title II, Part D (Formula grants for technology);
  • Title III (Language acquisition and English language learners)):
  • Title VI, Part B, Subpart 1 (Rural education achievement program)
  • Title VI, Part B, Subpart 2 (Rural and low-income school program);
  • Title X, Part C (McKinney-Vento homeless education assistance)
  • State Section 31 - A (At-risk students)
Jane Schultz

Financial Management

The Office of Financial Management facilitates the development of the annual agency budget, and provides oversight of Department budgets.  The office is responsible for all accounting and purchasing activities for the Department.   This includes disbursing, recording and reporting grants; collecting revenue; developing and securing federally approved indirect cost rates; and procuring supplies and equipment.

Bruce Umpstead

Office of Educational Technology & Data Coordination

The Office of Educational Technology and Data Coordination is responsible for implementing the states online learning graduation requirement, the Michigan Educational Technology Standards (METS), and accomplishing the eight goals of set forth in the State Board's Educational Technology Plan.

The Office also serves in the vital role of encouraging and coordinating the use of data to drive decision making in schools and at MDE.

Lisa Brewer Walraven

Office of Child Development and Care

The Office of Child Development and Care works to support economic self-sufficiency and make high-quality care accessible to children in low-income families. To achieve this end, the office supports numerous efforts designed to assess and improve the level of quality across the spectrum of Michigan's early learning and development settings.

This office administers Michigan's federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) dollars and through these funds support:

  • The Child Development and Care (CDC) Program, the state's child care subsidy program.
  • Quality improvement initiatives for early learning and development programs and unlicensed subsidized providers coordinated through the Early Childhood Investment Program.
  • Licensure and monitoring of licensed and registered early learning and development programs.
Eleanor White

Office of Special Education

Eleanor White

The Office of Special Education oversees the administrative funding of education and early intervention programs and services for young children and students with disabilities.

Early intervention services are coordinated for infants and toddlers (birth through age two) with disabilities and their families according to federal regulations and state standards.

 

QR code


Michigan.gov Home |  MDE Home |  Site Map |  State Web Sites |  Office of Regulatory Reinvention |  Compliance |  Spending & Accountability
Privacy Policy |  Link Policy |  Accessibility Policy |  Security Policy | Michigan NewsMichigan.gov Survey

Copyright © 2001-2013 State of Michigan