30 | AUGUST 19 • 2021 

EDUCATION

F

or most people “back to school” 
might mean new pencils and new 
books. For one Franklin woman, it 
also means new state special education and 
civil rights complaints.
Marcie Lipsitt, 62, is a special education 
advocate who spends her time fighting for 
students’ rights. 
Every child in the United 
States is entitled to a free 
appropriate public education 
(FAPE), regardless of race, 
ethnic background, religion, 
sex, economic status and 
disability. When a child has 
a disability, they may need 
support in order to learn in 
a typical classroom as suc-
cessfully as their able-bodied 
peers. 
Enter the Individualized 
Education Program (IEP), a 
legally binding document crafted for each 
student to provide access to an education. 
When parents hire Lipsitt, it means their 
child is not succeeding or reaching their 
potential in school. Parents are often unfa-
miliar with the laws and what their child is 
legally entitled to. 
Lipsitt’s schedule is hectic; she spends her 
time answering emails and phone calls in 
between attending several meetings daily. 
“Every day of the Michigan school year, I 
have meetings,
” said Lipsitt, who started her 
advocacy work when her son Andrew, now 

32, was in elementary school. “I don’t keep 
track of how many students I’ve advocated 
for because the number would probably 
frighten me!
“I’m the Michigan Department of 
Education’s worst nightmare,
” Lipsitt said, 
who describes her job as “going to the U.S. 
Department of Education and their office 
of Special Ed and basically 
ratting out Michigan for 
some pretty bad behavior.
” 

FIGHTING FOR BETTER 
EDUCATION
When Gov. John Engler 
stripped the authori-
ty of the elected state 
board members of the 
Michigan Department 
of Education and gave it 
to the non-elected state 
superintendent in 1996, 
Lipsitt said it made education in Michigan 
much worse. 
“We’ve had five of these non-elected state 
superintendents, who have all the authority 
of a dictator,
” Lipsitt said. “There’s no trans-
parency; no one holds them accountable.
”
One example that always gets Lipsitt 
riled up is the Highly Qualified Teacher 
Provision in the then-named No Child 
Left Behind Act. The provision stated that 
teachers were required to pass the state 
teacher licensing exam in the subject that 
they teach. 

“In 2008, Michigan was the only state in 
the nation that was allowing people to teach 
high school special ed after simply passing 
the test to become an elementary teacher!” 
Lipsitt said. “What can a student with a 
disability learn in a resource room from a 
teacher who can’t understand algebra him-
self? Kids were being taught by teachers 
who weren’t trained.
”
In 2009, Lipsitt filed suit against the state 
of Michigan, and the U.S Department of 
Education found Michigan in formal viola-
tion of two national laws and required them 
to rectify the matter immediately.
In 2016, the Highly Qualified Teacher 
provision was removed altogether, which 
Lipsitt said broke her heart. “That’s the end 
of pushing teachers to be better trained.
”

PERSONAL LIFE
Lipsitt has lived in Michigan her entire life, 
with the exception of her first two college 
years in California. She and her husband, 
Eric, are affiliated with Temple Israel.
“My mother said I was born carrying a 
soapbox,
” Lipsitt said. 
Without laws in place, school was very 

Marcie Lipsitt fi
 ghts for the rights of 
impaired and disabled students.

Special Ed’s 
Ardent 
Advocate

continued on page 32

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Marcie Lipsitt

COURTESY OF MARCY LIPSITT

COURTESY OF MARCY LIPSITT

Marcie Lipsitt with her son Andrew at the Capitol 
in Lansing advocating for Individualized Education 
Programs (IEPs).

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