By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-875017.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Detroit Public Schools financial manager Robert Bobb met with lawmakers in Lansing today and asked them to approve education reforms. Lawmakers must approve the reforms before the end of the year for the state to compete for hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government.
Robert Bobb was appointed by Governor Granholm to take over and reform the financial disarray in Detroit Public Schools. Bobb told lawmakers it's critical for them to approve legislation so some one could be hired to take over failing schools' curriculums as well.
Bobb says Detroit's abysmal test scores released this week show just how badly education reforms are needed. He also met with state Superintendent Michael Flanagan.
"Our goal today is to convince the state superintendent of public instruction to include our entire request - which is about 90 million dollars," he says.
That's $90 million of the federal education-reform money the state is competing for. But for that competition to be serious, lawmakers will first need to approve the reform measures before the end of the year.