Michigan Federation of Teachers & School Related Personnel
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Michigan Federation of Teachers & School Related Personnel
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Capitol Report Archives Go to current Capitol Report for links to complete archive. 2003-04 Voting Records 2003 2002 2001 2000 |
Budget Agreement Reached - Executive Order Approved Work Begins on 2005 Fiscal Year Budget Election Consolidation Bills Become Law Accreditation: Missing MEAP Tests State Board Supports MEAP Retention Ed-Flex Contract Waivers Passes Senate Education Department Defends Teacher Tenure Revised K-12 Foundation Allowances Proration 2004 LOBBY DAY may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top Budget Agreement Reached - Executive Order Approved On December 10, Governor Granholm announced that she and the Senate Majority Leader had reached an agreement to balance the budget for the current fiscal year, which had a deficit of $835 million (recalculated down from $920 million due to updated revenue projections). According to the Michigan Constitution, the budget must be balanced or the Governor is required to issue an executive order to bring the budget into balance. Executive Order No. 2003 - 23 was issued on December 10 and contained a series of cuts totaling $379.8 million, which was 63% of the budget deficit. In addition to the cuts, 24% of the deficit was made up with new revenue and 13% through an accounting change. This order was approved by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees that same day. The executive order included cuts of 5% to higher education, but promised that 3% of the cut will be restored to universities and community colleges if they do not increase tuition higher than the rate of inflation (which is 1.7%). This will essentially reduce the cut to higher education to 2%. Other cuts laid out in the agreement include a $63 million accounting shift with the Michigan Merit Award (a move that will affect the awards themselves). This will be accomplished by paying half of this coming year's Merit Scholarships from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget and the other half will come from the FY 2005 budget. The deal reached by the Governor and the Senate Majority Leader included a six-month pause in the .1% rollback in the income tax until July in exchange for legislation to exempt businesses from paying Single Business Tax on health insurance they pay for their Michigan employees. Senate Bill 852 (Public Act 239) froze the .1 % rollback in the income tax for six months. The income tax pause will save the state $77 million, which will be used to reduce cuts to K-12 education, higher education, and local government. There is a $79 per pupil cut to public schools (which has been reduced several times from the original $196 per pupil). The equivalent proration for ISDs is approximately 2.7% of unprotected state aid. (A district-by-district proration chart is attached.) Senate Bill 556 (Public Act 236) provided for School Aid Supplemental Funding for 2003 - 2004. It eliminated all funding for Career Preparation and Partnership for Adult Learning. It increased funding for the reimbursement of lost revenue due to Renaissance Zones and lapsed current funding for Freedom to Learn Program (laptops for sixth graders). The second part of the budget deal included a five-bill "add-back" proposal. Under Senate Bills 672 (Public Act 240) and 673 (Public Act 241), 40% of the Single Business Tax charged to health care providers was rolled back by Fiscal Year 2006. A 20% rollout of the Single Business Tax on health care will take effect in Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 and will cost the budget an estimated $9 million in the first year. The next 20 percent will cost the state $22 million in FY 2006. Return to Top Work Begins on 2005 Fiscal Year Budget The fiscal experts involved with the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference predicted that after existing tax law changes take effect, there will be no growth in the state's general fund going into the new Fiscal Year 2005 that begins October 1. The House and Senate Fiscal Agencies and the State Treasurer agreed that the state will actually have $38 million less in General Fund revenues than what is expected this year. The only bright spot is the projected FY 2005 revenues for the state's School Aid Fund. The SAF is not subject to the same tax-law changes as is the General Fund. The fiscal experts said they expect revenues for the SAF to climb by some $414 million between FY 2004 and FY 2005. Because there is no budget set yet for FY 2005, there is no "official" estimate as to the size of the state's budget hole. Fiscal experts estimate the deficit to be in a range between $800 million and $1 billion. Governor Granholm announced that she will use the deficit figure of $1 billion in establishing the budget recommendations being presented to the Legislature on February 12. House Appropriations Chair Marc Shulman (R-West Bloomfield) and Senate Appropriations Chair Shirley Johnson (R- Royal Oak) want to see the budget completed by June 11. They hope to complete the first house action on the budget bills by April 2, with final action coming the week of June 7 through June 11. The schedule also calls for the Senate to begin action on budgets for the Departments of Community Health, Corrections, Department of Education, Environmental Quality, Natural Resources, K-12 School Aid, Community Colleges, and Higher Education. Return to Top Election Consolidation Bills Become Law A package of bills that consolidates the state's elections and limits the number that can be held each year to four preset dates will become effective on January 1, 2005. The main bill in the package is SB 877 (PA 298) with the following companion bills: HB 4820 (PA 299), HB 4822 (PA 300), HB 4823 (PA 301), HB 4824 (PA 302), HB 4825 (PA 303), HB 4826 (PA 304), HB 4827 (PA 305) and HB 4828 (PA 306). Under the new law, elections can only be held on the following days:
Return to Top Accreditation: Missing MEAP Tests Senate Bill 787 (Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood) was signed to become Public Act 275, effective January 8, 2004. This law prohibits the Michigan Department of Education from assigning an accreditation score or school report card grade to a district with 25% or more of its answer sheets missing. If less than 25% are missing, the Department is prohibited from including the pupils whose answer sheets are lost in determining an accreditation score or school report card grade. Public Act 275 also requires the Department to work with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure that a school is not penalized for missing answers when determining whether a district has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements. Return to Top State Board Supports MEAP Retention The State Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution at its January meeting calling for the retention of the MEAP test at the high school level. Under Senate Resolution 194 the Education Alliance Committee was appointed by the legislature to consider whether the ACT and WorkKeys would be more efficient tools for monitoring student progress in grades 9-12. MFT&SRP President David Hecker is a member of this committee. The Alliance will make its recommendations in February. Once the committee makes it recommendations legislative hearings will be held. Return to Top Ed-Flex Contract Waivers Passes Senate Education Committee The Senate Education Committee has approved a package of bills that would allow the state superintendent of public instruction to waive state statutes or rules, except those dealing with health and safety; teacher certification requirements; or those controlling creation of a charter school; and certain federal requirements for up to five years.
These bills passed the House in June have been reported out of the Senate Education Committee. They now move to the Senate floor. The Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel strongly oppose this bill because:
Return to Top Education Department Defends Teacher Tenure In response to questions from Legislative Appropriations Committee members about the cost to the state due to the Teachers' Tenure Act, The Department of Education reported that teachers would not have sufficient job protection without tenure. The report contends that the Public Employees Relations Act and collective bargaining under that act would not be sufficient to protect teachers from politically-motivated firing or disciplinary action. The due process protections of the Teachers' Tenure Act are not mandated by the Michigan Public Employees Relations Act. Without such statutory protections, tenured public school teachers may risk being considered employees-at-will, with no substantive or procedural due process rights. The report also notes that teacher collective bargaining rights are not as strong as they were in 1993 when the tenure act was last addressed. In 1994 and 1995, the Public Employees Relations Act (PERA) was amended to provide penalties to school employees who went on strike. It was reported that by effective evaluation and monitoring of teachers, and adequate documentation of findings, school administrators can best ensure the quality of their teaching staff. The Teachers' Tenure Act has been amended to strengthen such oversight of both probationary and tenured teachers. The report concluded that the act thus empowers school administrators while guaranteeing basic fairness to Michigan's public school teachers. Return to Top
Revised K-12 FOUNDATION ALLOWANCES PRORATION
FISCAL YEAR 2003 - 2004
source: Senate Fiscal Agency bk:opeiu42aflcio- January 21, 2004
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