A consultant considered an architect to the federal health care law who said a “lack of transparency” and “stupidity of the American voter” were critical to getting it passed reportedly received $481,050 from the state of Michigan, and a recently elected state representative said he wants an investigation.

Jonathan Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who created an econometric model intended to project health care spending and costs under different assumptions, along with his team, was granted a $481,050 contract by the state of Michigan, according to the Washington Post. He was paid that to help set up a state health-insurance exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The Washington Post reported that Gruber received similar payments from three other states, but Michigan paid the consultant $81,050 more than any other state.

Gruber was paid the $481,050 even though the Michigan Legislature did not authorize creating a state-level exchange. In 2012, the Senate approved legislation authorizing one but the House declined, with the result that Michigan currently has an exchange run by the federal government.

In some cases Gruber worked with other consultants, so the fees may have been shared.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it will consider a case challenging the authority of a federally run exchange to distribute the health care law’s subsidies, without which its “employer mandate” may not be imposed in a state.

Gruber has been widely criticized for comments on a recently discovered video where he said, "If you have a law that makes explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it wouldn't have passed. Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage and, basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever. But basically that was really critical to getting the thing to pass."

Rep.-elect Gary Glenn, R-Midland, said Saturday he will formally request Monday that the state House of Representatives Research Services Division investigate why Michigan’s payment was more than what Wisconsin ($400,000), Vermont ($400,000) and Minnesota ($329,000) paid.

Glenn will request that State Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, and State Rep. Matt Lori, R-Constantine, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee, investigate the state’s deal with Gruber.

Rep. McMillin said he’d ask the Department of Community Health how Gruber was selected and what services he provided for the money.

“Mr. Gruber appears to be a very devious man – perhaps with a proclivity for fraud,” Rep. McMillin said in an email. “Based on the info I receive, I’ll decide if a hearing is warranted.”

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In late September, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said in a press release that there was a “dramatic teacher shortage” causing large classroom sizes in Detroit Public Schools. Flanagan called on businesses, career professionals and the state Legislature to help.

A review of the number of teachers relative to the student enrollment in DPS, however, doesn’t paint a picture of a teacher shortage.

Detroit Public Schools has one classroom teacher for every 16.65 students, a ratio that is a little higher than the state average but lower than higher performing school districts.

Teacher-to-student ratios are not the same as class sizes, but it does shed light on the resources a school has to address staffing of classrooms.

In 2014-15, Detroit Public Schools has 2,836 classroom teachers and 47,238 students, or one teacher for every 16.65 students, according to documents received in a Freedom of Information Act request that were also verified by DPS spokesman Steven Wasko.

In 2013-14, DPS had 3,088 teachers and 49,870 students. Although the district shed 255 teachers since last school year, it also lost 2,632 students. The state average is one teacher for every 15.57 students.

That DPS teacher-to-student ratio is lower than Chandler Park Academy in Harper Woods, which had one teacher for every 19.8 students and Knapp Charter Academy in Grand Rapids, which had one teacher for every 18.3 students in 2013-14. Those two charters public schools are among the best performing schools in the state, according to the MDE’s own Top-To-Bottom rankings.

Other large districts in the state have larger ratios than DPS. Utica Community Schools has one teacher for every 19.1 students and Warren Consolidated Schools had one teacher for every 17.2 students in 2013-14.

“There are quality charter schools in the Detroit area with higher student-to-teacher ratios that are growing and posting better academic results,” said Audrey Spalding, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “The number of teachers per student is less important than whether the district is managed effectively.”

The MDE press release also stated, “Flanagan was responding to a media story over the weekend that reported Detroit Public Schools (DPS) having over 100 teacher vacancies that are resulting in classroom sizes of up to 45-50 students.”

The Michigan Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.