Michigan’s education department says it can’t evaluate virtual learning

Four years after an audit recommended that the Michigan Department of Education evaluate virtual learning in public schools, it still hasn’t done so, according to the Michigan auditor general. The department says it does not have the authority to do the evaluation.

An August 2020 report from the Office of the Auditor General found three material conditions, or deficiencies, with the Michigan Department of Education.

A follow-up audit, issued in November, concluded that the department had made only partial corrections. It faulted the department for not developing a strategy to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of virtual learning in public schools.

“MDE needs to develop a strategy to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of virtual learning provided by traditional public schools,” the report said. The department said in its February 2021 response that it would take action.

In a recent email to Michigan Capitol Confidential, however, the department took issue with the recommendation.

“This follow-up report and many comments within it reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of MDE’s role, statutory authority, and responsibilities in a state that provides for local control of its public school,” wrote Bob Wheaton, the department’s official spokesperson.

Given the longstanding legislative and public support for local control of schools in the state, Wheaton said, it is extremely difficult to imagine the Legislature agreeing with the need to implement the auditor’s recommendations.

Implementing the auditor's recommendation may require the department to be involved in local public schools, which could require a change in state law, Wheaton said.

“The department also is not provided with funding to do what the auditor general wants to be done, so it does not have the staffing necessary to perform these functions,” Wheaton said.

The auditor general, according to Wheaton, was unable to provide the law that gave MDE the authority to develop a strategy to evaluate its virtual learning for traditional public schools. He said the department is not required to take on that responsibility and it is a duty of the boards of education for local school districts.

The auditor general’s office told CapCon the agency does not have a response to the MDE’s public comment.