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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich.

(Al Goldis)

LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder wants to get lawmakers working on a plan to improve education in Detroit in the first half of 2015, and officials both in state government and outside are looking forward to the discussion.

In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Snyder called the education environment in Detroit "uncoordinated" due to the presence of Detroit Public Schools, charter schools and the Education Achievement Authority.

Snyder said there is “an environment that is not creating success for our students. They deserve it. They deserve to have a great education so they have a bright chance at college, career and life and we need to do more on that.”

Speaking to reporters a day after his speech, Snyder called on the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren — a part of the Skillman Foundation currently working on a study of Detroit's education landscape — to send him recommendations for improvement by March.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said he’s interested in working on improving education in Detroit, even after he retires at the end of June.

Following Snyder’s speech, Flanagan speculated that the amount of education options in Detroit might have diluted educational quality in the city instead of increased it.

“It’s a Catch 22,” he said. “You want competition but it’s almost over-competition at this point, to the point where you can’t get a system that’s stable. If you can’t stabilize your enrollment, it’s a big problem.”

There are currently 58 charter schools in the city of Detroit, along with 15 schools managed by the EAA (the state's recovery school district) and 100 schools in the Detroit Public Schools.

While Flanagan feels that the amount of choice in Detroit's education marketplace might be making a mess, Gary Naeyaert — executive director of the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP) — feels the exact opposite.

Naeyaert said one of the problems with Detroit's education system is that parents don't necessarily have all the best information to make informed choices on where to send their kids. He said Michigan's "rainbow report card," which assigns colors to schools signifying their quality based on a number of factors, is often more confusing than helpful.

“We’d never argue there’s too much choice,” Naeyaert said. “One could argue, is there an easier way, do parents have the information to make informed choices, are they good consumers? … I’d say the answer is probably not.”

Naeyaert added that he’s looking forward to the recommendations from the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren as well. He expected there to be some recommendations that would speak to some major issues such as transportation.

On Wednesday, Snyder said he feels there is more supply than demand when it comes to education in Detroit. The Republican went back to one of his talking points from Tuesday night’s speech — that standards have to be raised for all schools — to possibly suggest a way to decrease the supply.

“One of my answers to that would be to say, ‘Let’s raise the bar until we get a matching of supply and demand,’” Snyder said. “Let’s keep raising the bar because students deserve better choices. But, when we raise that bar, let’s raise it evenly and equally for all types of schools.”

Asked for his thoughts on Snyder’s declaration that standards need to be raised at a time when Detroit schools can’t meet current standards, Flanagan expressed his belief that reforms in Detroit could be successful.

“I’m quite confident we can together build a system that makes more sense in Detroit,” Flanagan said.

One of the people state officials will have to work with is Steve Conn, the new president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

At his swearing-in ceremony Wednesday, Conn said his goals include getting the schools under the authority of the EAA back into Detroit Public schools.

"I want to say to the governor, the politicians and the corporate interests who they work for: We are fed up with the state-sponsored destruction of the Detroit schools," Conn said in a statement on the union's website.

Naeyaert said he feels too many people are focused on saving Detroit Public Schools instead of focusing on students.

“We’re very interested in making sure academics are improved in Southeast Michigan and every effort should be made to address students’ needs,” he said, “regardless of the impacts on the conveniences of adults or adult institutions.”

Reporter Emily Lawler contributed to this report.

Kyle Feldscher is the Capitol education and MSU reporter for MLive Media Group. Reach him via email at kylefeldscher@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter at @Kyle_Feldscher. Read more stories here.