Nessel declines to review legality of Whitmer's new education department

LANSING, Mich. (FOX 2) - The state attorney general has turned down a request by the State Board of Education to review Michigan's newest department which was created by the governor earlier in the summer.

The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) was designated by Gretchen Whitmer who created the department using an executive order in July.  

The education board's eight members voted in August to direct the state superintendent to ask Dana Nessel to review the constitutionality of the order. The board's eight members said there appeared to be overlapping responsibilities dealing with public education between MiLEAP and Department of Education.

Nessel said it was too early for the department to rule on the executive order.

"At this point, the EO is not yet effective and therefore has not been implemented by MiLEAP. And the Board acknowledges that, at this point, there is only the potential for overlap in the future, and no specific set of facts was provided for review," she wrote in a response letter.

The order will go into effect in December, and when it does the attorney general says an opinion may be necessary if the new department's actions infringe on the state board's responsibilities.

"It is at that point, where a specific set of facts exists, that an opinion may be appropriate. Unless and until such a situation arises, however, issuing any type of opinion on potentially overlapping authority of the Board and MiLEAP is premature," the letter said.

MiLEAP has a broad focus on education with an emphasis on outcomes for students, and boosting enrollment in pre-K and after-school programming.

Whitmer announced the department around the same time a series of reports came out predicting a grim next few decades for population growth in Michigan. Learn more about what the department will do here.