Saturday, April 20, 2013

Snyder defends secret project to reform education system

Snyder defends secret project to reform education system | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday defended his administration's involvement in a secret project that is trying to develop a cheaper way to deliver public education through a voucher-like funding system.
The education reform advisory team's existence had been secret until The Detroit News reported Friday about a months-long "skunk works" project to design a new "value school" that costs $5,000 per child annually to operate — $2,000 less than the state's minimum per-pupil funding. The group includes employees of software companies, charter school advocates and five state employees.
"There's people in the executive branch and any parts of government, actually in the general community, that get together and try to come up with new ideas and try to innovate and bring those ideas forward," Snyder told reporters Friday after the 14th annual Leadership Luncheon at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
"That's what I would view a group like that — just working together to say they want to come up with new ideas and throw them out there. That's how you come up with new ideas. Most of them don't go anywhere, but you don't want to discourage people from trying and being creative."

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