Michigan’s State Board of Education is asking Attorney General Dana Nessel to weigh in on whether a newly created education department is constitutional.
Last month, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to establish the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, or MiLEAP. The department is responsible for strengthening pre-K and higher education to promote economic and population growth in the state.
But members of the state board of education say they hold authority QUOTE “over all public education,” so the new department seems to create an issue with QUOTE “overlapping authority.”
Board president Pamela Pugh told the Detroit Free Press they’re concerned MiLEAP could subject the state’s education system to political influence from future governors.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday to request a formal opinion from Nessel on the constitutionality of the new department. A spokesperson for Whitmer says the governor's office is confident in its legal authority to create the department.