The Michigan Senate on Thursday voted to overhaul Michigan’s lax dam safety laws, moving long-awaited reforms one vote away from reaching Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Both legislative chambers have now approved versions of two companion bills sponsored by Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, and Rep. Bill G. Schuette, R-Midland, to strengthen flood control standards, increase inspections and require owners to prove they can maintain the structures.

Because Thursday’s Senate vote included substitute language for one of those bills – House Bill 5485 – it must return to the House for concurrence before reaching Whitmer’s desk.

Schuette said he expects quick approval in the House, which last week passed McMorrow’s Senate Bill 947.

The votes represent a breakthrough in a long-stalled effort to strengthen Michigan’s dam safety standards, which are among the nation’s weakest.

Reforms were first proposed after dam failures in mid-Michigan caused more than $200 million in damages. They languished until this spring, when flooding caused another round of costly dam failures and near-failures.

“While we can’t undo what happened across our region in 2020, we can and should prioritize a better way forward,” Schuette told Bridge Michigan on Thursday.

He called the legislation “a huge win for communities and families across our state who have homes and livelihoods near high-hazard dams.”

Michigan is home to some of the nation’s oldest dams, averaging about 80 years old.

A Bridge Michigan investigation in June found more than 100,000 state residents live in the path of a potential flood from a high or significant-hazard dam, which could kill people or inflict widespread damage if they fail.

Many of those dams are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, while hundreds do not meet the national standard for flood control.

Across much of the nation, high-hazard dams must be capable of passing 100% of the so-called probable maximum flood, or the worst-case-scenario flood in the surrounding area.

Michigan’s standards are less than half as stringent.

“With inaction … other dams will fail. It’s just a matter of when,” Denver-based dam safety expert John France told Bridge at the time.

Thursday’s votes are the latest in a flurry of activity to shore up Michigan dams in recent months. Lawmakers in July allocated millions toward shoring up problem dams and boosting staffing in the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy dam safety unit.

The funding, in part, was meant to alleviate concerns that higher dam safety standards would trigger costly infrastructure upgrades that communities couldn’t afford.

Statewide, Michigan’s 2,600 dams need a collective $1 billion in repairs and updates.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Opponents are going to court in hopes of blocking a controversial $50 million grant Michigan awarded in August to fund construction of a Canadian company’s copper mine in the western Upper Peninsula.

The money was approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund after several failed attempts by economic developers and regional lawmakers to subsidize the Copperwood Mine project with taxpayer money.

Supporters have said the mine will boost the local economy over its 11-year lifespan. Critics point to the site’s proximity to Lake Superior, the North Country Trail and Porcupine Mountain State Park.

The filing made Monday in Ingham County Circuit Court by the grassroots Protect the Porkies questions oversight of the public funding, with the $50 million coming from the also-controversial Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund.

The large-scale development fund has been defunded by lawmakers, who lost interest after the high-dollar spending yielded limited job growth and local backlash.

The money for the Copperwood award was authorized by lawmakers for an unnamed company in 2022. Other SOAR votes were promised to go through a public approval before lawmakers after the strategic fund vote.

But with the Copperwood award, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said the funds went unused, making them available for the mine funding. State officials say the earlier appropriation means that the award faces no further approval by legislators.

That decision demands accountability, Tom Grotewohl, executive director of Protect the Porkies, told Bridge Michigan.

“Regardless of how one feels about the proposed Copperwood Mine, all should acknowledge the (strategic fund board) has set an extraordinarily dangerous precedent for future handouts of public money to foreign companies beyond the purview of elected lawmakers,” Grotewohl said.

MEDC spokesperson Danielle Emerson said the department had no comment on the filing.

Copperwood is planned by Highland Copper, which approached the state for the subsidy in 2023. It recently pegged construction costs at $450 million and has said 380 people will be hired at an average wage of $80,000.

In early 2024, the strategic fund board tabled a vote on a $50 million after members raised questions about whether Highland Copper had enough money or any other investors to see the project through.

After learning that the state would be the first investor, the board came back two months later with guardrails on the funding. Still, the request never made it through a state Senate appropriations committee vote.

Two attempts to add $50 million to state budget earmarks also did not reach the final budget.

The funding approved in August authorized about $45 million to Highland Copper to be used for reimbursements on construction and site improvement.

Another $5 million was awarded to the Gogebic County Road Commission to fund some of the road updates the project requires in Wakefield Township.

Several UP lawmakers spoke at the strategic fund board meeting in support of the funding.

Marty Fittante, CEO of InvestUP, an economic development group, described the project as “the most important economic opportunity” for the entire Upper Peninsula.

But a few dozen opponents also spoke ahead of the vote. They included representatives from statewide environmental groups. Several tribes retain rights to use the land around Copperwood, and many signed a letter sent to the state in 2025 against the project.

“Indigenous people have seen this pattern before: decisions about our lands and waters are made somewhere else, the economic benefits are promised to others, and our communities are expected to live with the consequences,” said Anahkwet “Guy” Reiter of the Menominee Nation.

Barry O’Shea, CEO of Highland Copper, described the state grant as foundational toward attracting financing and capital toward construction and mine operation.

He said he’s hoping for a $250 million loan from the Export-import Bank of the United States and federal grants to help cover the remainder.

“You truly can’t understate the importance of this to our company,” O’Shea said after approval on an investor-focused video.

The state grant is “a key first step as we think about the broader project financing,” he added. “It gives us incredible strength as we go into those next steps.”

The Attorney General’s office also has been asked to review the funding, a spokesman has told Bridge. No update was available on Tuesday.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Michigan third grade reading scores continued to slide in the state’s most recent standardized tests this year, even as schools begin to implement reading reforms.

Just 38.2% of third grade students in Michigan are proficient in English Language Arts, down from 38.9% the previous year, according to results released Friday from the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, commonly known as the M-STEP. Students took the tests in spring 2026. It’s the lowest third graders have scored in the 12-year history of the exam.

The news comes after leaders have tried for a decade to improve reading scores with literacy coaches, optional teacher training and a short-lived law to retain struggling third graders.

Meanwhile, fourth through seventh grade reading scores are also down from the previous year. Just 44% of students grades 3-8 are proficient in reading, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of M-STEP and PSAT 8/9 tests.

“We need to improve the results of all these assessments for our students moving forward,” said State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko. “Michigan proficiency rates are not where we want them to be. We must increase proficiency rates in all subjects and areas, and in all grades. And we must do this over time, showing steady improvement in all areas.”

It’s the first M-STEP release since Maleyko took the helm of the Michigan Department of Education last December. The tests measure if students are able to achieve skills outlined in state standards.

Only 35.5% of students grades 3-8 are proficient in math.

Many proficiency rates moved less than one percentage point, which MDE acknowledged in a news release.

“Most proficiency rates are essentially flat when compared to 2025 results on the tests, with the rates on all except four of 20 tests staying within 2 percentage points of the numbers in 2025 and most staying within a percentage point,” the department said.

Other takeaways include:

• 1. Math proficiency is up in third and sixth grade compared with last year, down in fifth grade and flat in fourth and seventh grade.

  2. Fifth grade science and social studies proficiency is down.

  3. Eighth graders improved their proficiency in social studies but results dropped in science.

  4. In the 11th grade, science and social studies proficiency is up but performance is down in reading and math.
  

What to know about key districts in the state:

• 5. Detroit Public Schools Community District, the state’s largest district, saw gains in reading and math. In third grade, 14.1% of students are proficient in reading, up from 12.9% the previous year. In math, 20.1% are proficient, up from 15.7%.

  6. In Grand Rapids, third grade reading made a slight gain from 19.6% third grade reading proficiency to 20.1%. Math increased from 19.6% to 23.5%.

  7. Lansing School District saw gains in reading proficiency in third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades. But proficiency declined in seventh and eighth grades.
  

MDE also shared information on what it is doing to improve student proficiency.

It plans to release the “Michigan Mathematics Framework” this fall that will include “a shared vision for mathematics learning; evidence-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and coordinated systems for mathematics,” according to a news release. MDE is also creating a committee focused on science, technology, engineering and math, commonly known as STEM.

State focus on literacy but results down

These are the last state test scores that will come out before term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer leaves office. She has said literacy is her number one priority in her final year.

Voters will decide whether Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson or Republican US Rep. John James will be the next governor.

Maleyko emphasized that laws aimed at improving literacy are not fully in effect yet. He said the Legislature, governor, State Board of Education and educators needed to work together to improve outcomes.

Among those changes is a requirement that school districts use “evidence-based” reading instruction and screen students for characteristics of dyslexia by the 2027-2028 school year.

Under a new law signed this summer, elementary teachers will be required to complete ‘science of reading’ training by the 2031-2032 school year. Some school districts will receive state help as they work to fully train their teachers. Michigan also has funding for literacy coaches, vetted curriculum and teacher training.

If a district uses a literacy curriculum not from a state-vetted list and fails to inform parents, the district loses its state funding. But MDE does not have a mechanism where districts report what curriculum they use.

While department officials emphasize the need to improve literacy, they caution that state test scores are only one way to measure student achievement.

Delsa Chapman, a deputy superintendent at MDE, told Bridge that “if a student is not proficient or partially proficient, that does not mean that the student cannot read.

“On that one test in time, their demonstration of mastering the standards is determined through a proficiency rating. But that absolutely, again, does not state or say that the student cannot read or cannot do mathematics.”

Who gets tested in Michigan

Third through seventh graders in public schools throughout the state take the English language arts and math test.

Fifth grade students also take a science and social studies test. Eighth grade students take the PSAT 8/9 test for English language arts and math and the M-STEP for science and social studies.

Ninth graders take the PSAT 8/9 while 10th graders take the PSAT 10.

In 11th grade, students take the SAT, WIN Readiness Assessment, and science and social studies M-STEP.

Some students with disabilities take the MI-Access tests instead of the other tests.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

By Lauren Gibbons BRIDGEMI.COM

This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.

In Oakland County’s Waterford Township, concern over the use of automatic license plate readers by law enforcement agencies escalated to a 24-year-old man smashing several of the devices to bits.

Police credit one of the cameras he’s accused of breaking with helping track him down. The license plate reader, Sheriff Scott Underwood said, captured his license plate data before it was damaged.

Underwood highlighted that incident as one of many examples where the readers have assisted in solving crimes quickly, but the damaged cameras and subsequent arrest highlight the tension many communities are experiencing as local officials grapple with how and whether to use automatic license plate readers in policing.

At least 16 states have adopted policies aimed at regulating the use and retention of data collected by license plate readers, which capture pictures of vehicle license plates every time a car drives by.

A group of lawmakers led by Republican state Rep. Doug Wozniak of Shelby Township and Democratic state Rep. Jimmie Wilson of Ypsilanti are suggesting it’s time for Michigan to do the same.

“Michiganders deserve to know that new technology is being used responsibly, not in ways that invade privacy or erode public confidence,” Wozniak said in a statement announcing bipartisan bills to regulate the devices, arguing their plan would protect driver privacy and help maintain public trust in law enforcement.

Absent a statewide policy, decisions on the use of license plate readers have fallen to local law enforcement agencies and municipal governments.

In communities where license plate reader contracts are being considered, concerned residents have increasingly spoken up at public hearings about the possibility of data being used to surveil lawful activity or the possible sharing of data with federal law enforcement agencies.

At least 125 Michigan agencies contract with the Atlanta-based company Flock Safety, one of the largest providers nationwide of automatic license plate reader technology.

Law enforcement agencies using the devices tout the technology as a speedy way to help locate missing people or catch criminals, and some police groups are concerned the proposed statewide regulations as written would go too far.

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“We’re not against any regulations — we just don’t want it to weaken what a good investigative tool the license plate readers are,” said Matt Saxton, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.

HOW THE BILLS WOULD WORK

If the proposed legislation became law, the biggest change would be a restriction on how long any data collected by license plate readers is stored.

Lawmakers supporting the bills are pushing for a 14-day limit on data retention, as well as limiting use of the license plate reader system to specific law enforcement actions, including:

Finding missing peopleLocating stolen vehiclesLocating people with outstanding arrest warrantsIdentifying uninsured or unregistered vehiclesParking and tolling enforcementCriminal investigations

The legislation also calls for publicly available reports from agencies using the readers on how the data is used and would offer a path for legal recourse if a driver believes his or her data was used improperly.

State and local governments can support effective policing “while still demanding safeguards that protect civil liberties,” Wilson said in a statement announcing the bills.

“This legislation creates clear limits on how … data is collected, stored and shared, ensuring these tools are used to improve public safety, not to enable routine mass surveillance,” he continued.

In most communities with license plate readers, the devices are placed at or near major public intersections. As vehicles pass by, the reader takes a photo of the back of the car, collecting the license plate number that can be used to look up the vehicle registration.

Photos are typically stored by the contractor for 30 days, though locals can elect to keep them for more or less time. The law enforcement entity can then cross-check those images with “hot lists” of license plates connected to suspected criminals or missing people.

Critics contend that 24-hour surveillance of drivers, the vast majority of whom will never be charged with a crime, poses major privacy concerns — especially considering the 30-day standard for storing the data also means anyone with access could gain insight into a driver’s daily routines.

Saxton, the executive director of the Sheriff’s Association, said law enforcement criminal investigations or missing person searches can take longer than two weeks to complete. He’s concerned cutting the timeline short could limit the effectiveness of the tool.

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“If that data was gone after 14 days, we couldn’t use that as a tool to help that family find out answers about their missing loved ones,” he said.

The proposed legislation is pending in the House Judiciary Committee and would need to earn majority support in the politically divided House and Senate to become law.

ACLU of Michigan policy strategist Gabrielle Dresner, whose organization worked closely with lawmakers on crafting the proposal, is optimistic about the chances of meaningful reform.

“​​In conversations we’ve had with the vast majority of the representatives, we’ve had a lot of support from both sides of the aisle … the most left of left and right of right,” she said. “It’s really a popular issue among everyone.”

WHERE THINGS STAND STATEWIDE

In the meantime, communities around the state are reaching differing conclusions about how to balance law enforcement requests with increased pushback from citizens.

After weeks of opposition from residents, Lapeer County Sheriff Scott McKenna recently pulled back a request for license plate readers.

He told county commissioners that he personally believes foregoing the readers “leaves us in a vulnerable position,” but, after taking stock of the situation, he “felt it was my duty at that point to pull it off the agenda.”

Some cities, including Bay City and Ferndale, have in recent months backed out of contracts with Flock and have reassessed their license plate reader policies or switched to a different provider in response to community concerns.

In Detroit, city council members recently requested a report on how data collected from the city’s more than 500 license plate readers is used, expressing concerns about the possibility of data sharing.

But other communities are still considering getting their own license plate readers or adding onto existing contracts as local police credit the technology with helping locate stolen vehicles, bust human trafficking rings, solve serious crimes like rapes and murders and fill coverage gaps in short-staffed departments.

Local officials in Trenton and Taylor this week considered renewing existing contracts with Flock Safety. Taylor police credit the tool with arrests in a 14-year-old’s shooting death and a sting operation involving possible child predators, among other things.

In Waterford Township, where police began using license plate readers in 2022, law enforcement was recently approved to add additional readers and Flock-powered drones to its repertoire, despite concerted pushback from locals.

After several cameras were destroyed — including the camera that led to an arrest in the crime — Underwood, the Waterford police chief, in a press release said the public is entitled to their opinions regarding the readers, but aren’t entitled to maliciously interfere.

The license plate readers “collect only images of vehicles and license plates,” he said in the release. “Those images, coupled with a number of other investigative techniques, led to a successful resolution in this case, that being the arrest of a person who committed three felonies.”

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By Isabel Lohman, Bridge Michigan

This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.

On any given school day in Eastpointe, a student in special education may be working on speech skills with someone on a screen.

The student is receiving one-on-one support from a virtual speech pathologist. It’s two-on-one support if you count the paraprofessional there to escort the child, supervise them and sometimes help with exercises.

Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina A. Gibson has four virtual speech pathology providers and two in-person providers to help 149 students with speech services, including 37 pre-K students.

In a perfect world, she would prefer to have all in-person speech professionals. “This is not an ideal situation,” Gibson told Bridge. “I think the best speech services are delivered face-to-face.”

Competition for speech teachers is fierce, and demand is outpacing supply, said Gibson.

“Because the demand is there all over the country, speech pathologists can work wherever they want to,” Gibson said. “And districts don’t have choices. Our first priority is always to be compliant and to provide services to students.”

Couple that with a growing student need for speech services and you get vacancies. Some of those vacancies get filled by virtual therapists.

As of Friday, Feb. 27, Optimise, a statewide special education talent task force, listed 224 job openings for speech pathologists to work in Michigan’s public schools.

Temporary solution

In Ann Arbor, Dicken Elementary is using a virtual speech therapist after an in-person therapist resigned recently.

Andrew Cluley, an Ann Arbor Public Schools spokesperson, said the move is “temporary” and does not change students’ goals in their individualized education programs (IEPs), how often or how much speech service a student receives.

“Our intent is to ensure continuity of services during staffing shortages rather than allowing gaps in support for 27 Dicken students.”

Cluley said all speech languages services, regardless of if they are in-person or virtual, are being provided by Michigan-licensed speech language pathologists.

Ann Arbor Education Association President Fred Klein said the transition to virtual speech is a “Band-Aid, stop gap measure.”

He said he’s hopeful the district will be able to hire an in-person speech therapist but he said compensation remains a challenge in the district.

The union is negotiating a new contract with the district. More broadly, many have argued for an increase in teacher compensation to help attract and retain teachers.

Michigan ranks 44th nationwide in starting salaries, $41,645, while the average teacher pay of $69,067 ranks 19th among states, according to an analysis from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University.

Meanwhile, it’s unclear just how common virtual staffing is for special education.

Districts report job vacancy information to the state, but the Michigan Department of Education said it does not know how many special education positions are being filled by virtual contractors or employees.

MDE declined to say whether the department believes speech services should be offered in-person.

“Those types of decisions are made through an IEP developed at the local level based on the specific needs of each student,” said MDE spokesperson Bob Wheaton.

There are 215,449 students with Individualized Education Programs during the current school year, an increase of 1.8% than the previous school year.

“Whenever you’re doing any type of virtual services, you should be communicating with the family,” said Tina Lawson, vice president of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education.

“They should have a clear understanding of what is taking place. Whether that’s through an (individualized education program) discussion, or a direct phone call or some form of letter communication with the family to make sure that they understand the participation of it.”

Michigan special education teaching positions have a higher vacancy rate than other fields, according to a different analysis from EPIC.

“It’s not just vacancies, it’s also turnover,” said Tara Kilbride, associate director of EPIC, who researches the teacher workforce. “And turnover during the school year, especially, is higher in special education than other areas.”

‘Human relationships’

While virtual workers can help students individually, educators acknowledge there are some aspects that aren’t possible with someone on a screen. For example, they can’t just hop into a classroom to help a teacher out if a specific student is having a behavioral concern or needs some time to cool off.

In Potterville, the middle and high school uses a virtual social worker. Special education teacher Samantha Jean said the social worker is “amazing,” and attends IEP meetings, meets one-on-one with Jean and has helped students meet their goals.

“But then on the flip side of that is, you have those kids that really thrive on those human relationships. So I have had one student(s’) family say ‘until we have in-person, this just doesn’t benefit him. He sits there, refuses to talk.”

In response, Jean said she helps the student with his social skills.

“We have to figure out a way to give those kids the services they need,” Jean said.

Kilbride, the workforce researcher, said it’s important to consider tradeoffs.

“If the alternative is not having anyone at all, that’s obviously worse than having the virtual service provider,” Kilbride said. “If the alternative is having your existing staff spread thin or having higher caseloads, harder workloads among the special education service providers, that can also be a problem.”

Lawson, also the director of special education at Berrien RESA, said her intermediate district “would prefer in-person. It’s definitely much more beneficial for students to have that one-to-one in-person provision of services.”

Last spring, LaKesha Welch started the process of enrolling her son for first grade at Eastpointe. Welch said her son has autism and is nonverbal and hyperactive. Her son had already benefited from applied behavioral analysis therapy, and Welch hoped her son could become more independent in traditional public school. But she learned his speech services would be virtual, which Welch said she couldn’t “see that being a workable solution for my son.”

Ultimately, Welch chose for her son to enroll in L’Anse Creuse Schools, another Macomb County district.

Solutions for special education

Administrators acknowledged state efforts to increase the number of teachers and other roles that support students with disabilities.

Still, they say more should be done.

Jean wants districts and the state to ensure social workers who have never been in an education setting before have training on classroom management, verbal de-escalation skills and mandated reporting.

“Man, if I had that magic wand, it would be putting those people in those positions with the correct training behind it,” Jean said.

Gibson, of Eastpointe, said she continues to work with her local union to see if the district can provide financial incentives for hard-to-staff positions.

She also wants the state to change rules so that paraprofessionals can directly provide speech services with the guidance of speech therapists.