What does the Michigan Department of Education do?

Yahoo

12-03-2025

As the U.S. Department of Education's workforce is cut in half through a federal push to cut costs — and President Donald Trump claims he will follow through with a campaign promise to eliminate the agency entirely — the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is in the spotlight.
Trump has said repeatedly he wants education to be under state control, though Michigan's schools are mostly locally controlled, meaning local districts set curricula and handle the details around what students are taught and how. Eliminating the federal department entirely would require Congress to act.
There are differences in what the state department of education does and the federal department does, however both take oversight roles while local school boards and administrators execute many of the core parts of educating public school students, such as setting curricula, choosing class materials and hiring educators.
"I think the State Board of Education is going to play a significant role in, if nothing else, educating the population on what all of these executive orders and the potential impact that they can have on the state as far as public education is concerned," said Casandra Ulbrich, who served on the board from 2007 to the end of 2022, including a stint as board president. "I don't see (MDE's) role diminishing, I see it actually getting stronger and more important as the attack on public education continues."
The Michigan Department of Education was established through state law and operates as an arm of the state government. The federal department was established through federal law.
The federal department largely takes on broad oversight of public education in the country: disbursing federal funds including Title I for schools serving low income communities, collecting national education data, and managing federal student loans.
The state department of education, based in Lansing, broadly oversees public schools in Michigan: It helps administer programs like the Michigan School Meals program, supervises state and local special education programs, administers state grants, maintains and oversees teacher certifications and more.
Michael Rice, state superintendent of education, leads the Michigan Department of Education.
The state superintendent is not elected, but appointed by the State Board of Education. The State Board appointed Rice in 2019 to lead the department on a 5-3 vote. Rice led Kalamazoo Public Schools before his appointment for 12 years, and was a school superintendent in New Jersey before that.
Rice, in an emailed statement Tuesday evening following news of the layoffs, wrote that staffing cuts for the federal department will ultimately impact vulnerable children.
'Today's action is an outrage, a likely prelude to programs, protections, and funding — and by extension children in Michigan and around the country — being adversely affected," he wrote.
There are eight members of the Michigan State Board of Education, and they are elected every eight years. If a member unexpectedly leaves their seat during that term, the governor appoints that seat. The elected members are: Marshall Bullock II, Ellen Cogen Lipton, Tom McMillin, Judith Pritchett, Pamela Pugh, Mitchell Robinson, Nikki Snyder and Tiffany Tilley.
According to state law, the board is charged with being "the general planning and coordinating body for all public education." Importantly, board members are the ones who hire the state superintendent.
Ulbrich said the board often serves a policy-driven role, issuing and voting on resolutions that recommend policies state lawmakers and other education leaders should adopt.
"That's why you see so many resolutions coming from the State Board of Education, because that's our collective voice to say we're representing public education in the state of Michigan, and this is what we think needs to happen," she said.
On Tuesday, for instance, the board adopted a resolution on a 5-2 vote titled "Defending public education, civil rights, and democracy against executive orders and directives that threaten our children and communities."
That resolution is a response to Trump's executive orders so far, and condemns those actions, encouraging school districts to continue to protect equity and inclusion in education.
More: 5 years after schools shuttered for COVID, Michigan students are still not the same
More: Trump's layoffs at US Department of Education: What it means for Michigan's public schools
The state agency includes, among others, the following departments:
Nutrition services: Oversees and administers the National School Lunch and Michigan School Meals programs, among other initiatives.
Health & Safety: Issues guidance to schools around health and safety issues such as social-emotional issues, health education and mental health.
Career and technical education: Works with regional career and technical education officials for support and development.
Educational assessment and accountability: Responsible for state testing and other accountability measures.
Educator services: Oversees educator certification, administers workforce programs to improve teacher shortages in the state, and collects workforce data.
Special education: Oversees and administers supports for school programs for students with disabilities.
Ulbrich said one of the most effective roles MDE stepped into is that of helping try to turnaround schools that struggled academically. The effort was created to meet federal law provisions that require states to assist low-achieving schools, according to Chalkbeat Detroit.
"They work with the schools that are struggling the most, and those tend to be high poverty schools," she said. "We really tried to turn it from we're here to punish you — which under the No Child Left Behind that's what it became was as punishment — into something of, we want to work with you and find out what your unique needs are, and then help you identify the resources to impact those unique needs."
MDE is not the only education-oriented state agency. In July 2023, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential.
The agency is focused on accelerating the state's early childhood and higher education programs, including Whitmer's free pre-K for all initiative, which allows 4-year-olds in all Michigan families, regardless of income, to be eligible for free pre-kindergarten.
Contact Lily Altavena: [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What does the Michigan Department of Education do?