It was a hot item a few months ago— the state, planning to close a slew of under-performing schools. Now a lawsuit over the closures may be settled.
Several school districts and the state of Michigan have a broad framework to settle the lawsuit by the districts to keep the state from closing dozens of schools where many students do poorly.
The lawsuit was filed after the state school reform office put 38 schools on notice of closing. 25 of the schools were in Detroit. East Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Saginaw districts joined Detroit in the fight to keep the schools open. Gov. Snyder eventually backed off, agreed to a new effort to improve student achievement, and moved the school reform office from his control to the Michigan Education Department, run by the elected State Board of Education.
Terms of the settlement… and whether schools might still close… must be approved by the Attorney General and the local school boards.