ClickOnDetroit
May 28, 2025
Ty Steele
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan used his keynote address at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Wednesday to shift his message beyond the city’s revitalization and toward a bold, statewide vision for education reform.
Positioning himself as a political independent—and a problem-solver—Duggan laid out a sweeping $4.5 billion plan to overhaul Michigan’s K-12 education system.
He also took direct aim at the state’s longstanding political dysfunction, saying both parties have failed Michigan students by rewriting education laws every time power shifts in Lansing.
“We designed a system that no one has fixed,” said Duggan. “A bad system beats a good person every time.”
Duggan pointed to his own track record in Detroit—reviving the city’s hospitals, leading Detroit out of bankruptcy, and building cross-sector coalitions—as a blueprint for tackling statewide dysfunction. He said Michigan’s current political culture is failing to provide the consistency and support that students and teachers need to succeed.
“They let the teachers teach—and let the teachers teach in a system that works,” Duggan said, referencing effective education models in other states.
5-Point Education Plan
Duggan’s plan includes:
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A “Marshall Plan” for early reading
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Focused investment in early literacy programs to boost achievement by third grade.
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Rebuilding Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs
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Duggan called out the fact that 41% of Michigan schools are now “CTE deserts,” with few or no vocational training opportunities for students.
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Creating an educator-driven curriculum
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Empowering teachers to design classroom content, reducing top-down mandates.
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Doubling the number of school counselors
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To address student mental health and improve college and career readiness.
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Implementing a five-year accountability structure
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Underperforming school leaders, including superintendents and principals, could face dismissal if results don’t improve.
“To do a turnaround: you give people the resources, you give them a clear plan, and you hold them accountable,” said Duggan to a group of journalists after his keynote address. “And I think this would do all of those things.”
The mayor stated that funding would be obtained by reallocating existing state revenues and pursuing new streams of federal support, although he did not provide detailed figures during the keynote.
Political Shift
Now running for governor as an independent, Duggan is seeking to position himself outside the traditional partisan divide. In his speech, he criticized both Democrats and Republicans for using education reform as a political football.
He argued that students, parents, and educators have been left behind by lawmakers who are more interested in ideology than in outcomes.
As the campaign unfolds, education appears set to be a centerpiece, and Duggan is betting that voters are ready for someone who prioritizes solutions over slogans.