By the time Aaliyah Ibarra started second grade, her family had moved five times in four years in search of stable housing. As she was about to start a new school, her mother, Bridget Ibarra, saw how much it was affecting her education.

Mallory Grossman was a sixth-grade student at Copeland Middle School. Her parents say she took her own life after she was bullied online by other students.

The Michigan Department of Education already recruits and certifies more than 1,000 educators a year from other states, said State Superintendent Michael Rice, but this will allow the teachers to integrate into classrooms more quickly. It will “benefit districts across the state and particularly those in communities close to other states,” he said.

Many superintendents believe building leaders know best what their students need. New research links school autonomy to improved student achievement—under the right conditions.