LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The State Board of Education had their first meeting of the year on Tuesday in Lansing and swore in their newly elected Democrat board members, Mitchell Robinson who prevailed in the November elections and Marshall Bullock II who was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to fill Democratic Jason Strayhorn’s unexpired term when he resigned last summer and moved out of Michigan.

Incumbent Pamela Pugh, who was board vice president in 2022, was also elected to the board again in November, and was sworn in at the meeting as well. She was subsequently elected to be the president by the eight-member board controlled 6-2 by the Democrat members.

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Pugh’s bio on the state’s website lists her as being a member of the Healthy Schools Network Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Boards of Education where she serves as Chair of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee. It also says she is the Chief Programs Officer for The Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership.

During Pugh’s campaign, she was endorsed by many Democrat-affiliated organizations including SEIU Michigan, UAW, MIDems, and the MEA.

When Michigan Department of Education (MDE) teacher training videos were exposed that instructed school employees on how to assist and promote the sexual transition of students under their care and to keep it a secret from their parents, Pugh and Robinson released a joint statement of support of the MDE saying, “We want schools to be safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all children and adults who work and learn in them. Supporting educators and students with diverse backgrounds and identities, whether it’s students of color or those who identify as LGBTQ+, should not be a divisive issue. Instead, we must continue to work together – educators, parents, students, and the community – to ensure that students are treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sex or any other identifying characteristic.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, Pugh expressed her commitment to work with the Michigan Department of Education on legislative priorities that have been proposed by her, other members of the board and the State Superintendent Michael Rice. These priorities include strengthening gun control laws to address school violence; providing teacher retention bonuses; requiring parents to register home-schooled children with the state; ensuring funding continues for school mental health services; requiring more transparency from charter schools; repealing the third-grade reading law’s retention rule; funding schools more equitably; providing free school lunches to every students and more.

Chalkbeat Detroit reported that many of these proposals came to light during the last legislative session but with a Republican majority, they weren’t brought up to the floor for a vote. However, Michigan Department of Education’s director of public and governmental affairs Marty Ackley says, “We’ll get some traction this session.”

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Concerning the proposal to have parents register if they are home schooling their children, Republican board member Tom McMillin said, “It might sound innocent at first, but it’s a first step toward control.” Republican member Nikki Snyder expressed that these parents had left public schools in the first place to get out from being under the thumb of public education and it isn’t right to make them register with that same public school system.

The State Board of Education oversees the education of Michigan’s 1.3 million public school students but Chalkboard Detroit says that they have limited authority to do much except for the hiring and firing of the state’s superintendent and to “approve standards that local districts use to set curriculums.”

They report that most education policy decisions are the purview of the Legislature and that most of the power of the State Board of Education comes from the “bully pulpit.’”

Pugh said in an interview, “The people who are on our board have mouths big enough and loud enough, and the majority have the right intentions as well as the right skill sets to influence and shape the agenda. I do think we’ll have influence, and we won’t be unaligned with the Legislature.”

Now that the Democrats control both the Michigan House and Senate, she is probably not wrong.