The Michigan state board of education has backed Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm’s choice to become Michigan’s top education official.
Michael P. Flanagan, currently the executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, won the job May 18 on a 5-1 vote of the board with two abstentions. The other finalists were Thomas P. Jandris, who leads a Chicago-based education consulting firm, and Nicholas A. Fischer, an assistant superintendent of the Fairfax County, Va., schools.
Mr. Flanagan, 55, served as Gov. Granholm’s education adviser after taking office in 2003 before returning to his job with the administrators’ group. He is a former superintendent of the Wayne County intermediate school district and of the Farmington-Farmington Hills district, both in Michigan.
He replaces Thomas D. Watkins, a Democrat, who resigned in January under pressure from Ms. Granholm, also a Democrat, who complained that he lacked executive ability. (“Mich. Chief Steps Down, Looks Ahead,” Feb. 9, 2005.)
