Lori Higgins

Lori Higgins

Bureau Chief, Chalkbeat Detroit

Lori Higgins is the Bureau Chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. Previously, she covered K-12 education for nearly two decades as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, was a reporter and editor at the Green Bay Press Gazette, and a reporter at the Manhattan Mercury. She is a native of Chicago and product of Chicago Public Schools.

The legislation was inspired by the “heartbreaking” stories of Michigan foster youth.

The focus of the spending of the literacy lawsuit settlement money is on hiring academic interventionists, but the district might have a tough time hiring them.

Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said the district needs names to go with the allegations in order to investigate them.

Sherry Gay-Dagnogo cast the lone dissenting vote on Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s contract extension, citing the timing of the vote.

The majority of states in the U.S. don’t require kindergarten attendance.

One of the high points in the graduation rate data released Friday: the Lansing School District, where the rate has increased dramatically since 2021.

The Detroit school board now must decide how it will spend the $94.4 million in literacy lawsuit settlement money.

State payments on retirement debt freed up $670 million that is helping fund many of Whitmer’s education initiatives.

A big question for school districts is whether closing schools will lead to bigger enrollment losses

The governor also said she plans to include free breakfasts and lunches in her budget proposal, extending what was offered this year.