David Hecker
President

Lois Lofton Doniver Secretary-Treasurer

Louise Somalski
Legislative Coordinator

August 2008

Links to current Advocacy Campaigns
may be found in the Legislative Action Center

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Legislative Update

The education budgets have occupied so much space in the Capitol Report this summer that we have not had room to report on various pieces of legislation as they move through the legislature. Now that the education budgets have been signed into law, we would like to catch our members up on some other legislative issues of interest.

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Education Opportunity for Military Children

The Council of State Governments and the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Personnel and Readiness have drafted a new interstate compact to address the educational transition issues of children of military families. With the enactment of House Bill 5963 (Polidori, D-Dearborn)(Public Act 160, 2008) Michigan entered into the compact.

The act requires the Governor to appoint the state's representative to the Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity or Military Children. The Compact becomes effective on the date on which ten states become members.

Some key issues encountered by these families, among other things are: eligibility; enrollment; placement; and graduation. The compact provides for a detailed governance structure at both the state and national levels with enforcement and compliance mechanisms.

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HPV Information in Schools

Senate Bill 415 (Cherry, D-Burton) requires the Department of Community Health to identify materials about human papillomavirus and immunization for it, notify schools of the availability of the materials, and encourage schools to make the information available to parents.

House Bill 5322 (Clark, D-Flint) requires school boards to include information about HPV and the HPV vaccine if the board provides information on other health issues to the parents of students in at least the 6th, 9th, and 12th grades.

Senate Bill 415 and House Bill 5322 were signed to become Public Acts 120 and 121 of 2008. These acts took effect on May 9, 2008.

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Excused Student Absence

Senate Bill 747 (Garcia, R-Howell) requires public school officials to consider a student's absence as an excused absence if the student is absent from school for up to one full school day because a parent or legal guardian is a service member being deployed or returning from active duty. This bill does not prohibit a public school from considering a longer absence (more than one full day) for this reason also to be an excused absence. Senate Bill 747 was signed to become Public Act 141 of 2008.

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Public-Private School Courses

Senate Bill 836 (Van Woerkom, R-Muskegon) revises the terms under which a district can receive state school aid for a non-public school student or for a home-schooled student enrolled in courses provided by the district. It would require that course requests and the response to such requests, be done in writing. The law also allows students to seek instruction beyond the host school district. Senate Bill 836 was signed to become Public Act 219 of 2008.

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Public Employee Retirement Health Care Funding Act

House Bill 5913 (Hammel, D-Flushing) would create the "Public Employee Retirement Health Care Funding Act" to establish one irrevocable trust under Section 115 of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 USC 115, for each retirement system under the following retirement acts: State Employees' Retirement Act; Public School Employees Retirement Act of 1979; Judges Retirement Act of 1992; State Police Retirement Act of 1986; and Michigan Legislative Retirement System Act.

This bill would establish the legal framework for an irrevocable trust in which a funding account would be created for the deposit of funds for retiree health care benefits, the bill neither changes current or future benefits levels nor identifies a specific source of revenue to fund the benefit costs. The governing board of each retirement system would be responsible for managing each trust and would be authorized to charge the funding account for the cost of its administration. House Bill 5913 is currently on second reading in the House.

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Public School Retirees Re-Employment

House Bill 4593 (Melton, D-Auburn Hills) would extend from six years to eight years, the maximum time a public school retiree could work in a school following retirement; remove the July 1, 2011 sunset in the law; require school districts to pay 50 percent of a rehired retiree's health care to the retirement system after the third year, and 100 percent in the fourth and subsequent years of employment; and require the State Board of Education to approve or disapprove a local school district's request to fill positions with retired teachers. House Bill 4593 is currently up for immediate passage for full House.

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Full-Day Kindergarten

House Bill 4662 (Virgil Smith, D-Detroit) would require school districts and certain charter schools to provide kindergarten; to require parents to send five-year-olds to school (phasing in a September 1 cut-off by 2011-12, and allowing a parental waiver); and to require full-day kindergarten beginning with the 2011-2012 school year for schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law for two consecutive years. The bill would take effect January 1, 2009. House bill 4662 is on second reading in the House.

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Public School Collective Bargaining: 3rd Party Non-Instructional Contracts

House Bill 4533 (Meisner, D-Ferndale) would allow a public school employer and an employee bargaining representative to collectively bargain about whether or not to contract with a third party for non-instructional services; the procedures for obtaining a contract; the identity of the third party; or the impact of the contract on individual employees or the bargaining unit. House Bill 4533 passed the House on July 25, 2007, and is currently before the Senate Education Committee.

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Michigan Picked for No Child Left Behind Pilot

Michigan is one of 11 states chosen to participate in the U.S. Department of Education's new pilot program in an attempt to improve the No Child Left Behind Act. Every local school district is involved in this pilot.

The Growth Model calculations will be used to determine this year's AYP results. Preliminary AYP results have already been issued to elementary and middle schools for the 2007 - 2008 school year. As a result of this recent approval by United States Department of Education to use the Growth Model, the Michigan Department of Education will add the "on track" students into the AYP calculation system to create final AYP determinations. This will result in a modest number of schools that originally had not made AYP ultimately making AYP in the final determination. No school will be affected negatively by considering student program toward proficiency.

Three key features of Michigan's Growth Model include:

• Using performance level change (first report for fall 2007) to track students' performance from year to year;
  
  
• Measuring whether students who are not yet proficient are "on track" to becoming proficient within three years;
  
  
• Determining that if students are "on track" toward becoming proficient withing three years, those students will count toward school making AYP even if they are not yet proficient.

Identifying students who are "on track" toward proficiency within three years will apply only to grades 4-8 for the state's English Language Arts and Math tests. Those are the only two subjects required by NCLB to be tested and used to determine AYP. Third graders will not be identified as being "on track" since that is the first time those students' achievement is measured.

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High School Curriculum

House Bill 6247 (Hopgood, D-Taylor) is currently before the House Education Committee and would modify mathematics graduation requirements and personal curriculum requirements as follows:

• Allow the parent or legal guardian of a pupil who has completed at least 1 semester or trimester of grade 10 to request a personal curriculum that modifies certain Michigan Merit Standard requirements.
  
  
• Allow a teacher, school counselor, or person acting in a counseling role to contact a pupil's parent or legal guardian to discuss the possibility and potential benefits of a personal curriculum under this subsection for the pupil.
  
  
• Require the addition of "a teacher who teaches at the high school" to the group to develop the personal curriculum.
  
  
• Allow the mathematics credit requirements to be modified as part of a personal curriculum after the pupil has successfully completed at least 1-1/2 credits (instead of the currently required 2-1/2credit), if the pupil successfully completes at least 3-1/2 total mathematics credits.

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General Diploma Curriculum

House Bill 5943 (Sheltrown, D-West Branch) would provide for a "general diploma curriculum" as an alternative to the Michigan high school graduation requirements; allow the Department of Education to designate up to 15 specialty schools; and provide for the creation of a personal high school curriculum. This bill is currently before the House Education Committee.

The bill specifies that beginning with students entering Grade 8 in 2006 (those now entering 10th Grade), the boards of all school districts and charter schools would be prohibited from awarding a high school diploma unless the student had met either the requirements for the Michigan Merit Standards, or had met the requirements for a general diploma.

The requirements for a general diploma would include: meeting the existing online course or learning experience requirement; successfully complete 3 credits in mathematics, including completion of at least algebra I (or the integrated equivalent in a career and technical preparation course), geometry (or the integrated equivalent in a career and technical preparation course), and an additional mathematics credit; 4 credits in English Language Arts; 2 credits in science, including completion of at least biology and an additional science credit; 2 credits in social science, including the civics course described in the code; 1 credit in subject matter that includes both health and physical education; 3 credits in a career and technical preparation academic sequence, and 1 additional credit that is aligned with guidelines developed by the Department and approved by the State Board of Education.

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Literacy Skills Training

Senate Bills 842 and 1275(Kuipers, R-Holland) would to identify, as early as possible, students with reading difficulties, and to intervene and provide a solid foundation for higher learning. Teachers, administrators, and other educators would receive professional training in identifying students with reading disabilities and determining, if intervention is needed.

Senate Bill 842 would require reading intervention and appropriate training for teachers and school administrators; five teacher professional development days in the diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities and differentiated instruction; summer language arts programs; and early intervention programs.

Senate Bill 1275 would require districts that had failed to meet English language arts requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act to use discretionary nonmandated payments from the State to provide an early intervening program for pupils in grades K to 3.

It would require the program to provide a comprehensive, age-appropriate language arts curriculum; include active parental involvement; and provide all pupils with 60 to 90 minutes of reading instruction per school day; screening for children in grades K to 3 three times a year; rescreening of pupils in grade 6 beginning in 2011-2012 and grade 8 beginning in 2013-2014; additional reading instruction to a pupil who was not meeting basic literary benchmarks for his or her grade level; with notice to the parent or guardian of a child in grades K to 3 if the pupil failed to meet standards for basic literary skills, including notice of the specific role that the parent or guardian could play to improve the pupil's reading level, and notice of the right to receive reimbursement for the pupil to receive supplemental services.

Senate Bill 1275 would permit a district to contract with an intermediate school district (ISD) to provide an early intervening program; and require an ISD that contained two or more districts that had failed to meet NCLB English language arts requirements to offer to provide an early intervening program to those districts.

Senate Bill 842 has passed the Senate and is currently before the House Education Committee.
Senate Bill 1275 is currently before the Senate Appropriations Committee and is tie-barred to Senate Bill 842.

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Higher Education Loan Authority Reserve Funds

House Bill 6205 (Byrnes, D-Chelsea) would amend the Higher Education Loan Authority Act to allow the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority, with the approval of the State Treasurer, to establish one or more special reserve funds. Any money transferred or appropriated to a special reserve fund could be used only to provide security for bonds issued by the Authority.

The Authority's loan portfolio is currently structured such that only the income from underlying student loans is available for the repayment of bond obligations. The bill would allow the establishment of a reserve fund, financed by any available Authority revenue, for payment of debt service if student loan income were insufficient.

The Michigan Department of Treasury is requesting this change because the disruption in the capital markets caused by the credit crisis has increased debt service costs for the Authority. The Department believes that investors will view the addition of special reserve funds as an enhancement to the overall security of their investment, resulting in a potential reduction in debt service costs in the long term. In the short term, the addition of this reserve fund mechanism would enhance the likelihood that banks will provide letters of credit to the Authority to support the issuance of Variable Rate Demand Obligations. The Department of Treasury reports that a letter-of-credit-backed Variable Rate Demand Obligation is currently the only financing structure acceptable to the market to raise capital for new student loans.

House Bill 6205 passed the House and was amended and passed in the Senate. It now returns to the House for concurrence on the Senate amendments.

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2008 - 2009 Michigan Department of Education Grants

The AFT Michigan website has been updated to include state and federal grant allocations to our locals for the 2008 - 2009 school year. Please check out our website at http://www.aftmichigan.org to see if your school qualified for any these grants.

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State Board Sets Goals for FY 2008-2009

At their August meeting, the State Board of Education adopted goals for itself and the Department of Education for the coming year that include "re-imagine the pre-K-12 educational system"; continuing to review and improve teacher preparation; continue to advocate and promote high school reform; and building partnerships with intermediate school districts.

"Re-imagining Pre-K-12" will mean a lot of forums and public input over the next year that will result in a series of findings and policy recommendations to the board by the end of the next school year.

Over the next year, the department will be developing and implementing a framework for excellence in teacher preparation; designing and implementing a three-tiered teacher licensure system; strengthening the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification; developing criteria for the 21st Century schools (small high schools) initiative; and developing strategies to ensure that a partnership between the MDE and ISDs is institutionalized and sustained.

These goals will be impossible for the Department of Education to reach without full staffing and funding resources.

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Extended School Year Standards Approved

At their August meeting, the State School Board gave final approval to standards that meet federal requirements and assure students with disabilities will have access to appropriate consideration of extended school year (ESY) services.

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