Information on Michigan academic standards and instructional resources.
Responsible for providing final decisions in administrative appeals to MDE.
Learn more about the MDE office responsible for providing leadership in curriculum and instruction that provides students with greater choices to prepare for success.
Resources for educator certification, recognition programs, evaluation, and workforce research.
Resources related to financial and pupil accounting and auditing.
Options available for Michigan students that provide unique learning opportunities.
Food & Nutrition Programs
This MDE office provides resources and technical assistance in physical education, sex education, health education, behavioral, emotional, mental, and social education as well as safety, discipline, and transportation.
Resources for programs and initiatives that support school improvement efforts.
Resources for supporting special education in Michigan.
Michigan has an innovative and comprehensive system of assessments to measure student achievement in learning our state content standards.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Search is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
The web Browser you are currently using is unsupported, and some features of this site may not work as intended. Please update to a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Edge to experience all features Michigan.gov has to offer.
Local education agencies and public school academies are required to adopt a model core curriculum per MCL 380.1278 of the Revised School Code. The curriculum should follow the Michigan Merit Curriculum. Various sections of the Revised School Code require that the written curriculum be part of the charter contract. [MCL 380.502(3)(e)(ii), MCL 380.522(4)(e)(ii), MCL 380.552(7)(e)(ii), MCL 380.1311b et seq, MCL 380.1311d(3)(e)(ii), MCL 380.1311e(5)(d)]
A charter school may offer a single-gender class or program in which enrollment is limited to pupils of a single gender if the charter school permits enrollment of students of both genders. The charter school must also make available to pupils a substantially equal coeducational class or program and a substantially equal class or program for pupils of the other gender or both genders. Also, participation in a single-gender school, class, or program must be voluntary [MCL 380.475 and MCL 380.1146]. In short, a single-gender program may be offered if the two other programs (single-gender for the opposite gender and coeducational) are also available and of equal scope and quality.
Charter schools that pursue a single-gender program are advised to work very closely with legal counsel to determine that all aspects of the program are handled appropriately.
Waivers may be requested for sections of law or rule where the Superintendent of Public Instruction has the legal authority to grant such a waiver. An example of such authority is a waiver for a school year to start after Labor Day. Also, some MDE offices have waiver programs for administrative fees related to their areas of specialty (for example, Food and Nutrition Services). For more information, see MDE’s Food & Nutrition Programs and the Office of Financial Management’s guidance on waivers.
In general, a charter school is considered a local school district. It is responsible for following the same legislative guidelines for transporting students as a local traditional school district, except charter schools are not considered districts under MCL 380.1321, as they have no resident students. Therefore, a charter school may charge for transportation, contract with a 3rd party vendor who charges for this service, or opt out of providing transportation. For further information on transportation issues, visit MDE Pupil Transportation.
Certification requirements for charter school teachers are identical to those of local school district teachers. Special exceptions are made for a charter school authorized by a state public university or community college that may wish to use its staff or adjunct professors to teach charter school students.
(Refer to MCL 380.505).
Charter schools are required to report immunizations. If the charter school is new, it must report on all students. If the charter school has been open for more than a year, it must report only on the newly enrolled pupils. For more information on this topic, please visit School Health Services.
Charter schools are bound by the same statutory curricular requirements as any traditional school district. Those regulations are found in various sections of the School State Aid.
