FLINT, MI -- Flint Community Schools won't allow the state to flush lines or test water inside any of its 13 buildings, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman says.

"At this point, MDEQ hasn't been granted access into Flint Community Schools (buildings) to conduct the flushing and testing we've been able to complete at all of the other charter and parochial schools, day cares, and elder care facilities" in the city, said Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for the department, in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.

"Discussions regarding access to (Flint School District) schools are ongoing with the superintendent. State officials have met with the superintendent, requested access to the schools, and stand ready to conduct the testing once granted permission," Brown's statement says.

Flint school officials declined to comment on the lock-out claim and for weeks have declined to comment on what state officials have described as their interest in establishing a model lead elimination program for schools in the city.

Michigan Transformation Manager Rich Baird, senior advisor to Gov. Rick Snyder, announced the effort earlier this month and said he would discuss the details with Flint Schools Superintendent Bilal Tawwab.

Baird said then that the state had secured funding to create a "best in class or best practice protocol for schools" in Flint "that we would like to use across the state."

There is currently no requirement that schools or child care centers have water tested for lead unless school officials operate their own water system.

Plans to establish the pilot school testing program have been developed recently and discussed as increasingly lower lead rates have been found elsewhere in the city.

Just last week, the DEQ announced the results of water testing at every other school, day care and elder care facility in the city, saying 98.5 percent of samples collected at 63 buildings tested below the federal threshold for lead.

The DEQ did not initially announce that the new data -- reflecting testing that started in early November -- included no water samples from the buildings operated by the Flint School District, which serve about 4,500 students.

Initial water tests at a Flint school buildings in 2015 showed toxic lead levels at faucets and drinking fountains in multiple buildings.

At Eisenhower Elementary, for example, 18 of 43 water samples had lead levels above 15 parts per billion, exceeding the action limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

At Freeman Elementary School, one water sample in 2015 registered at 101 ppb of lead.

State officials have said the elevated lead levels in Flint schools were the result of old plumbing and lead solder in faucets and drinking fountains interacting with corrosive water from the city.

Flint's water supply was turned much more corrosive when the city changed its water source to the Flint River and began treating water for the first time in decades in parts of 2014 and 2015

Lead-in-water levels surged during those 17 months, fallout from the DEQ failing to require treatment of Flint's water to make it less corrosive, local, state and federal officials have said.

Flint schools are currently supplied with bottled water through donations from Walmart, Coca-Cola, Nestle and PepsiCo.

School officials haven't indicated what their short- or long-term water supply plans are.

The state has funded bottled water given away at distribution sites in Flint, but that support could evaporate next month because of consistently lower levels of lead found in city tap water during recent testing.