LANSING, Mich — Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the launch of a new education department on Friday.
The new department, Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), will focus on improving outcomes of students from preschool through early adult life.
MiLEAP was established through an executive order by the governor in July, but the department wasn't officially launched until Dec. 1.
With the creation of the new department, 300 staff members from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), Education (MDE), and Treasury will be transferred to MiLEAP.
MiLEAP will now oversee several programs that were previously run through other departments, including:
- MiLEAP’s Office of Early Childhood Education:
- Child care licensing from LARA
- Tri-share from LEO
- Office of Great Start from MDE
- MiLEAP’s Office of Higher Education:
- Office of Sixty by 30 from LEO
- Scholarship administration from Treasury
- MiLEAP’s Office of Education Partnerships
- Out-of-school time from MDE
- Governor’s Educator Advisory Council from MDE
- PreK-12 Literacy Council from MDE
The new department will focus on five different groups of people to achieve their goal of better education outcomes.
Beginning with 2-year-olds, MiLEAP aims to help families access quality, affordable child care. By age 12, MiLEAP aims to ensure public school students have the community support they need to have their best education outcome. After school, at age 22, MiLEAP will work to create paths for college students to pursue an affordable education in an in-demand field.
The other two groups that MiLEAP will point its focus to are employers and educators. MiLEAP plans to partner with employers, state departments, community colleges and universities to respond to talent needs in the Michigan economy.
The new department also plans to foster value and support for educators throughout the state.
MiLEAP will be comprised of three offices: Office of Early Childhood Education, Office of Higher Education, and Office of Education Partnerships.
You can learn more about the new education department on the new government website, Michigan.gov/MiLEAP.
In August, the Michigan State Board of Education challenged the creation of MiLEAP, citing that the department had overlapping authority with other already existing departments.
Later that month, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel responded to the challenge, saying that the challenge was premature and that the board needed to wait until the new department was implemented before looking into overlapping authority claims.
Now that MiLEAP is an official department in the Michigan Government, the board could raise that challenge again. As of Dec. 1, the board has not issued a new challenge.
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