Two seats on Michigan's State Board of Education are up for grabs next month, and the race has turned into a referendum on why the state's third graders still can't read at grade level, even as a 2025 vote on sex education standards continues to divide candidates along party lines. Democratic incumbents Tiffany Tilley and Judith Pritchett are each seeking a second eight-year term, facing Republican challengers Bree Moeggenberg and Terence Collins, along with six other candidates running outside the two major parties.
As reported by The Detroit News, Republican candidates are hoping to flip both contested seats, which would split the eight-member board 4-4. The stakes extend beyond literacy policy, with candidates also debating health standards.
Health Standards Still a Flashpoint
Much of the campaign friction traces back to a 2025 board vote on updated health education standards, which included recommendations about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Collins, a General Motors financial analyst who previously served one year on the Grosse Pointe school board, said the board wastes time on gender identity issues while children cannot read, per the Detroit News account. Moeggenberg, a licensed childcare provider, called for the state board to retract the health education standards altogether, saying the move would be actionable and simple.
Tilley, who works in real estate and has a background in nonprofit leadership, defended the standards, noting that the long-unupdated health guidance had not been a board focus until the prior year. She said health education gives students information about themselves and their peers, the Detroit News reported. Pritchett, who previously served as a local district superintendent and Macomb ISD chief academic officer, voted in favor of the standards.
Reading Scores Keep Sliding
The literacy numbers driving this election are stark. Michigan third graders scored 38.9% at least proficient on the spring 2025 M-STEP reading assessment, down from 39.6% the previous year, as Hoodline has previously reported.
Collins acknowledged he was not fully familiar with Michigan's dyslexia policies, per the Detroit News.
Mandate or Incentives — Candidates Split
None of the four major-party candidates has committed to pushing for a full statewide mandate requiring districts to use a science-of-reading-based curriculum, something neighboring Ohio has already adopted. Pritchett said districts can choose to stick with their current reading approach and rely on incentivized strategies instead, though she added that changes to the law may need consideration.
Tilley pointed to the fully paid training now reaching current and future teachers as evidence of building consensus in the field, citing one educator who reportedly wanted to take the science-of-reading training a second time.
Collins instead called for more one-on-one student interventions, pointing to an intensive-tutoring ninth grader who caught up to grade level in less than six months. He argued such interventions should help struggling students stay in school, graduate, and approach grade-level reading, and separately proposed placing every Michigan Department of Education worker in a classroom, saying education already receives enough funding.
Funding Fights Over Crumbling Schools
Moeggenberg echoed Collins on funding, saying too much money is already spent on education and that she would support redistributing it, with cuts drawn from bureaucracy and inefficient operations. Tilley and Pritchett instead argued that more existing state revenue should flow to education, particularly school infrastructure.
Six additional candidates are also on the ballot for the two seats: Wissam Charafeddine, Charles Essner, Kelli Monroe, William Mohr II, Christine Schwartz, and Mary Anne Hering. The State Board of Education approves content standards used by local schools, and a Republican-backed bill introduced in January sought concurrent legislative approval before any new state education standards could take effect, as Bridge Michigan reported.
