Detroit voters may be asked to put school system under mayor's control

From The Detroit Free Press: A ballot proposal that could give Detroit's mayor some control over the city's troubled school system may soon go before the Michigan Legislature. Rep. LaMar Lemmons Jr., plans to introduce a bill in the next two weeks that would allow Detroit voters to decide in November whether to effectively make the school district a city department. The mayor would run the schools, and a smaller elected board would approve the schools' budget to provide checks and balances akin to how the City Council works. The bill would be the first effort to get mayoral control -- a move advocated by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Mayor Dave Bing -- on the ballot in time for the November election.