LANSING – The hard-wrought changes to the state’s educational system enacted in the “Race To The Top” package completed Saturday could be transformational to the state, legislative leaders said as they completed the exhausting work that left some tempers strained.

Some critics said elements of the package were not needed, and that the state had more time to complete work on the bills and meet the federal deadline to apply for the money being dangled before it.

Officials hope the state could be in line to receive up to $400 million of RTTT funds to help enact the changes.

The changes are essential to improving education in the state, said House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.). “These reforms have been in the making for many years,” he said. “We would appreciate not having to move this fast but with ‘Race to the Top’ we have to get this done before break.”

“These are transformational changes for our state,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) told reporters, which are seen as necessary by officials from the highest levels. The recent announcement that Detroit students had the lowest scores ever on standardized tests showed the state had no option but to take the steps it has to change education.

But Bishop said there was no way to know if the package the state has enacted would guarantee funds from the federal government on the Race To The Top program. He said Michigan being one of the first states to finish action on the package should help its effort to win monies.

Bishop said the process took several days of grueling debate but in the end the process created a “monumental change” in education, one of the most significant legislative developments he had seen.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the package would show the world that Michigan is “relentlessly” focused on student learning.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming) said however that the process had violated longstanding protocols, and had treated Democrats disrespectfully. Democrats are not opposed to making changes to improve education, he said, but he said some parts of the package were aimed at enacting partisan ideological issues that Republicans had failed to enact before.

And he warned that Democrats would not tolerate what they saw as further disrespectful acts.

Bishop acknowledged that tempers had grown strained during the process. But he urged members to view this as a snapshot in their careers and despite the difficulties, the Legislature and the Senate specifically had been able to come together in a bipartisan fashion to approve the bills.

But both Rep. Tim Melton (D-Auburn Hills) and Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland) said the changes approved Saturday would have lasting effect.

“About 20 years of reform we did in the last few months,” Melton said. And he argued the changes should have been made regardless of the availability of federal grant money.

“It was never about the money for me,” he said. “To get these reforms done we needed some leverage.”

And Kuipers said the changes will need to be around for some time to be truly effective. While some of the changes will begin to show student achievement improvement quickly, “we won’t know the impact for five to 10 years,” he said.

Melton also praised all the interest groups for getting on board with the final proposal. “Unions came together with charters, charters came together with administrators, administrators came together with school boards,” he said.

Kuipers saw the provisions allowing additional charters to be a particular victory. “We broke down some of the barriers,” he said. “That’s always been a partisan issue.”

In a joint statement, Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association and David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan, said they had never opposed efforts to reform the state’s schools and backed the “necessary” changes represented by the package, including alternative certification and using student performance in evaluating teachers.

But they said they would continue to oppose the “unnecessary language stripping educators of their voice in helping students in those struggling districts.” Taking away bargaining rights of teachers in districts where schools are being taken over goes too far, and they called on the Legislature to make changes to the package to deal with that.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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