News
Educators hope DeVos lets states and districts run schools
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BY LAINA STEBBINS
Capital News Service
LANSING — With Betsy DeVos now at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education, Michigan educators are considering the benefits of handing more decision-making power to the states – a priority DeVos has repeatedly expressed. Superintendent Rick Seebeck of Gladwin Community Schools would welcome such a shift. He attributes Michigan’s education troubles to a needless “level of federal intrusion into the local education process” over the years, which he said has hindered the ability of educators to serve their students as they see fit. “I think you can have accountability without mandating so much of what has to be done,” Seebeck said. “We have to keep the accountability, but we have to get rid of all the red tape that’s keeping us from actually meeting those accountability standards.”
The federal government has long held power over schools, Seebeck said, by providing them with the funds they need so long as they follow federal rules that not every educator has found productive.