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 April, 2005 March, 2005 February, 2005 January, 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Go to current Capitol Report for links to complete archive. Voting Records 2003-04 |
State Revenues Continue to Drop University Funding Formula Proposed Community College Budget Up Date GranholmÕs Merit Plan Proposal Early Education Bills Update School CounselorsÕ Tenure Suspended Students' Enrollment in Strict Discipline Academies Sport Safety Training for Coaches K-16 Rally-June 21, 2005
Links to current Legislative Action Alerts
may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top State Revenues Continue to Drop The Revenue Estimating Conference held last week reported revenues for the current year slightly ahead of estimates and down for the next fiscal year. The estimate shows that the state's School Aid Fund will get less during the 2004-05 fiscal year, but officials said that should not mean any reduction in the per pupil allowance paid this year. With an increase to the state's general fund, the state should finish the current fiscal year with a $16.5 million surplus that will go to Michigan's community colleges and universities to reduce the cut that had been part of a March executive order. (See chart for May Restoration Amounts.) General Fund tax revenues for the 2004 - 2005 fiscal year are forecast to total $7.914 billion, up $44.0 million from earlier estimates. The school aid fund is forecast to total $10.85 billion, down by $28.3 million from the January forecast. But the total school aid fund should still finish this fiscal year with a small balance of $1.9 million, largely due to an estimated reduction in the total student population in the state by 1,257 pupils. Officials at the conference expect the 2005-06 fiscal year general fund to total $8.135 billion in tax revenues, a drop of $21.1 million from the January estimate. And the School Aid Fund forecast should total $11,244.1 billion, a drop in tax revenues of $56.8 million from the January forecast. Even though the school aid portion of that estimate is expected to fall $56.8 million short of the January projection, officials said Governor GranholmÕs 2005 - 2006 proposal to boost the K-12 pupil foundation allowance by $175 each should still be achieved. The MFT&SRP will lobby constantly to make this prediction a reality without sacrificing categoricals or Higher Education/Community College budgets. With the final revenue estimates for the upcoming fiscal year, the legislature and the administration can begin final work on the budget. Legislative leaders have said the goal is still to finish the budget by July 1, but most officials expect it will be September before the budget is finalized. The MFT&SRP and the K-16 Coalition reiterate that the state will not "grow out" of this revenue problem, therefore stable and equitable education funding must be addressed. Action Needed: We strongly urge all our members to send a letter to their legislators in support of Senate Bill 246 and House Bill 4582 and to participate in the K-16 Rally on June 21. For your convenience you may send letter and sign up for the rally at http://www.mftsrp.org. University and Community College May Restoration Amounts
Note: The total remaining net reduction is $13.5 million. Under section 701, this remaining reduction can be fully or partially restored if an unreserved general fund/general purpose balance exists at the close of Fiscal Year 2004 - 2005. The existence and size of such a balance will not be determined until some time after October 1, 2005. Return to Top University Funding Formula Proposed The House Republicans have announced a plan for allocating higher education dollars to the state's 15 universities called WIN (Workforce Investment Needs). The plan would base allocations primarily on the following:
No specific dollar amounts were announced in conjunction with the plan. But the Republicans did say that they had no plans to produce a Higher Education budget that costs more than the $1.6 billion ($1.49 billion GF/GP) budget Governor Granholm recommended, which represented a $47 million cut compared to last year. This is just a proposal and the budget is a long way from completion. The MFT&SRP has some concerns about funding equity to all state universities. We will update you as the process continues. Return to Top Community College Budget Up Date The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Community Colleges has agreed informally on the 2005-06 budget and boilerplate language. The subcommittee will vote on sending both to the full House Appropriations Committee in the coming weeks. In addition to agreeing on the budget portion, which totals a little over $281.3 million, representatives added language calling for a 13-member task force to evaluate community colleges. Governor Jennifer Granholm would nominate the task force to evaluate community colleges with the group making recommendations based on eleven different criteria. The task force would be made up of two representatives, two senators, the state budget director, the Department of Labor and Economic Growth director, four representatives from community colleges, someone from the business community, a professor and a student. The task force would measure how well each college meets the criteria, but a school does not have to meet each one to be considered for additional funding. Among the criteria are degree completion rates, how much is spent on administration vs. overall expenditures, student transfer rates and job placement rates. Return to Top GranholmÕs Merit Plan Proposal Governor GranholmÕs proposal to revamping of the Merit Award scholarship to college-based awards was officially introduced as House Bill 4678 (Hunter, D-Detroit), and referred to the Higher Education and Career Preparation Committee. The Merit proposal would eliminate the current $2,500 awards to high schoolers faring well on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program test in favor of a larger grant to those who finish two years of college or technical training. The revised award would be first offered to the 2007 high school graduating class, who would receive the $4,000 amount after earning an associate's degree from a community college, achieving junior status at a four-year university, or completing the equivalent technical or career training program. Students would have to enroll in one of those programs within two years of high school graduation and meet the new requirements within another four years. The funds would be available only for Michigan schools that are eligible for Pell grants and students would be required to take the Michigan Educational Assessment Program High School Test, though the award would not be affected by scores on that test. College students would be required to show proof that they had applied for federal assistance. The award from the state, which would still be paid from tobacco settlement funds, would be reduced by up to $1,500 if the student is eligible for federal Pell grants. To date, this bill has not been scheduled for hearing. Return to Top Early Education Bills Update The full Senate passed a package of bills designed to improve and encourage early childhood education in the state. The MFT&SRP and other school organizations, lobbied senators to amend or prevent passage of this bill package. Below is an update on the individual bills: Kindergarten Start Date Senate Bill 324 (S-1) (Jelinek R-Three Oaks) would move up the date by which a child must be five years old, from December 1 to September 1, by the 2009-2010 school year, in order to attend kindergarten. The bill also would allow the board of a school district or public school academy to adopt a policy allowing a child who was at least four on September 1 and would be at least five on December 1 to attend kindergarten. Senate Bill 325 (S-1) (Jelinek R-Three Oaks) would amend the State School Aid Act so it would comply with Senate Bill 324. This bill also prevents school districts from enrolling a child if another school district determined that he or she is not eligible to enroll early and specifies legislative intent that any school aid money not spent as a result be allocated for school readiness. Senate Bills 324 and 325 were substituted in the Senate Education Committee, presented to the full Senate, and then sent back to the Senate Education Committee. We do not expect any further action on these two bills in the near future. Teacher Professional Development Bill Senate Bill 326 (Birkholz, R-Saugatuck) would require a school district or public school academy to devote at least one professional development day a year to training about pupil learning, if the district or academy had an above-average percentage of pupils receiving special education. No action has been taken on Senate Bill 326 since it was introduced in March and it remains in the Senate Education Committee. Elementary TeachersÕ Reading Training Beginning July 1, 2007, Senate Bill 327 (Substitute S-2 as reported) (Cassis, R-Novi), would establish additional requirements regarding reading instruction for the renewal of an elementary teacherÕs provisional teaching certificate or the advancement of the teacherÕs certification to professional certification. This bill specifies that after July 1, 2007, the Superintendent of Public Instruction could not renew an elementary level provisional teaching certificate or advance the personÕs certification to professional certification unless, the person successfully completed at least a three-credit course of study with appropriate field experiences in the diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities and differentiated instruction. This course must be taken during the six-year provisional period. Senate Bill 327 has passed the Senate and is currently before the House Education Committee. Early Intervening Funding Bills Senate 328 (S-1)(Hardiman, R-Kentwood) would allow settlement money under the Durant rulings to be used for early intervening programs. The settlement provided additional funds for special education costs. The bill as reported allows some of the funds to also be used for early intervening targeted to grades K-3. Senate Bill 329 (S-2)(Cassis, R-Novi) would allow $1 million already in school aid funding to be used for competitive early intervening grants in three model school districts and 15 sites of improvement at $40,000 each. Senate Bill 330 (S-2) (Kuipers, R-Holland) would expand the use of existing at-risk funds to be used for early intervening programs. These bills have passed the Senate and are currently before the House Appropriations Committee. Return to Top School CounselorsÕ Tenure Public Act 288 of 2000 allowed an uncertified person to function as a counselor in a K-12 school system. This law was changed in response to a perceived school counselor shortage. As a result of this revision, an administrative judge determined that school counselors are no longer eligible for tenure as counselors. Currently, to be protected by the Teacher Tenure Act, a person must hold a certificate valid for the position to which the person is assigned. As there is no longer a requirement that counselors be certified, a person working as a counselor cannot have a certificate that is "valid for the position." Accordingly, counselors no longer may acquire teacher tenure while serving as a counselor. The MFT&SRP has worked with various legislators and the Michigan Department of Education for several years trying to remedy this situation. Administrative rules intended to restore the ability of school guidance counselors who hold any Michigan teaching certificate with a school guidance counselor endorsement to earn teacher tenure have been proposed by the Michigan Department of Education. Copies of the proposed rules (2005-027ED) can be obtained from the Internet through the State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules at http://www.michigan.gov/orr. The proposed rules will become effective immediately upon filing with the Secretary of State. The Department of Education will conduct a public hearing to receive public comments on proposed administrative rules governing TeachersÕ Tenure. It will be held:
Oral or written comments may be presented in person at the hearing on June 8, or submitted in writing by mail, email, or facsimile no later than 5:00 p.m., June 20, 2005.
Persons needing accommodations for effective participation in the meeting should contact Denise Dickenson at 517-335-0588 by June 3, 2005 to request mobility, visual, hearing, or other assistance. Return to Top Suspended StudentsÕ Enrollment in Strict Discipline Academies Senate Bill 69 (Birkholz, R-Saugatuck) would include suspended students among those permitted to attend strict discipline academies. Currently, expelled students can be enrolled in strict discipline academies for offenses including possession of a dangerous weapon, arson, criminal sexual conduct, assault against a school employee, a bomb threat, by a court, or by the student's parent or legal guardian. Since many students are suspended rather than expelled, Senate Bill 69 would add to this list suspended students who are suspended for a period in excess of ten school days and referred to an academy by the school and placed there by the student's parent or guardian. However, a suspended student would be allowed to attend the strict discipline academy only for the duration of the suspension. Senate Bill 69 has passed the House and Senate and was presented to the Governor for her signature on May 17. Return to Top Sport Safety Training for Coaches Senate Bill 205 (Hammerstrom, R-Temperance) would provide that, by July 1, 2007, the board of a school district or public school academy would have to require each person it employed or assigned as an interscholastic athletic coach to hold valid certification in sport safety training. A person could obtain certification by successfully completing a sport safety training course approved by the State Board of Education. The course would have to include instruction in at least cardiopulmonary resuscitation, emergency procedures, first aid, and injury prevention. Certification would not be required if a person demonstrated that he or she had a physical limitation that made it impracticable for him or her to complete the course and obtain the certification. The certification requirement also would not apply to a licensed physician, physician's assistant, nurse, or emergency medical services worker. If a person with valid sport safety certification, in the course of his or her employment or service as an interscholastic athletic coach, provided physical aid within the scope of the sport safety training to another person in an emergency, the coach would not be liable in a civil suit for damages resulting from an act or omission occurring in the provision of that aid, except for an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct. The bill states that it would not create a duty to act on the part of a person who held sport safety certification. Senate Bill 205 has the Senate and is currently before the House Education Committee. 
RALLY FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
JUNE 21, 2005 Adequate Funding for Public Education Support Senate Bill 246 and House Bill 4582 Register Today at http://www.mftsrp.org Return to Top |
