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. Legislative Update 10-8-03 August, 2003 July, 2003 June, 2003 May, 2003 April, 2003 March, 2003 February, 2003 January, 2003 2002 2001 2000 |
Members Rally to Protest Charter School Legislation Further Education Cuts Possible School Election Consolidation Bills expected to Move Intermediate School Board Election Bills Gain Momentum Package Requires Truancy Policies and Establish Penalties may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top Members Rally to Protest Charter School Legislation Shortly after the Governor and Republican Leadership shook on a charter school agreement, it started falling apart under scrutiny by various legislators, public officials, and school organizations. President David Hecker and Lobbyist Louise Somalski, assisted by the Michigan AFL-CIO and their affiliates, dedicated their lobbying efforts convincing lawmakers the agreement would be detrimental to public education and the Detroit Public Schools. As a result of all the controversy, the conference committee meeting scheduled for September 24 was cancelled. That agreement would have doubled the number of university-chartered schools to 300 over the next 10 years, and included language allowing Bob Thompson to go ahead with his 15 charter high schools. The Bay Mills Community College would fall under the university charter limit. Some funding was included for additional oversight and declining enrollment. The appointed Detroit Public School board would be replaced with an elected school board. When Governor Granholm finally received the 111-page draft bill from Republicans, it not only did not contain the set of principles agreed upon, but it went into issues "which were never discussed." Late on September 24, the Governor declared discussions on a charter school agreement were over, and that there would be no more discussions on charter school legislation until all the interested persons present her with a bill that reflects the full agreement. The draft bill proposal would have:
We would like to thank David Flood, President of Dearborn Federation of School Employees, for his help in lobbying legislators, Detroit Federation of Teachers members and other MFT&SRP local members for their overwhelming turnout at the Capitol, and all of you who contacted legislators via telephone, letters, and e-mail. Your efforts really do make a difference! It was assumed that the Legislature would vote on the revised version of Senate Bill 393 and send it back to Governor Granholm for her signature. However, some people believe the Thompson-only version of Senate Bill 393, which was sent to the Governor on September 8 should become law. Their argument is that on September 15 only the Senate requested that Senate Bill 393 be called back. The House was not in session at the time. They contend that it requires the full Legislature to pull a bill back from a Governor and halt the 14-day window of veto opportunity. Therefore, the deadline for Granholm to veto Senate Bill 393 expired on September 22 and Senate Bill 393 became law. If this argument does not pass legal scrutiny, Senate Bill 393 will likely remain in conference committee until an agreement can be reached on the appropriate language. Stay tuned! Return to Top Further Education Cuts Possible According to House Fiscal Agency Director Mitch Bean, the year-to-date revenues are down 1.7 percent, when the budget anticipated they would be up .3 percent. The means that revenues are 2 percent below estimates and the budget is therefore off by $380 million, of which $100 million is school aid. The budget was built on consensus revenue forecasts set by the Department of Treasury and Senate and House Fiscal Agencies in May. House Appropriations Committee Chair Representative Marc Shulman (R-West Bloomfield) has called for a mid-October emergency Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference to determine the size of the budget shortfall. This amount will likely come out of the bottom line of the state's next fiscal year, which begins October 1. Governor Granholm is committed to holding education as her number one priority and to being able to protect the $6,700 per pupil foundation grant in the widely expected upcoming round of budget cuts, but she does not rule out cuts in other areas of education funding. The shortfall in revenues for the school aid fund presents a bigger issue because it means a deficit for the current fiscal year and no surplus in 2003 -2004. Options could include using cushion money from the 2003 - 2004 budget now to balance the 2002 - 2003 budget. Higher education and community college budgets are appropriated through the general fund, therefore, additional cuts in the budgets for community colleges and universities could result. Return to Top School Election Consolidation Bills Expected to Move House Bill 4820 (Ward, R-Brighton), House Bill 4824, (Stakoe, R-Highland), and House Bill 4828 (Drolet, R-Clinton Township) are part of a package of bills that have passed the House and are currently before the Senate Committee on Government Operations. This package is expected to move through the Senate this fall. Among other things, these bills would amend the Michigan Election Law, the Revised School Code, and several related acts to:
Return to Top Intermediate School Board Election Bills Gain Momentum In light of the recent press surrounding Oakland ISD, numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced to regulate intermediate schools and their elections. All of these bills are currently before the House Education Committee, except SB 643, before the Senate Education Committee, and HB 4979, before the House Committee on Local Government and Urban Policy. Listed below are bills that may move through the Legislature this fall.
Representative Ruth Johnson (R-Holly) is drafting additional legislation that would:
Return to Top Package Require Truancy Policies and Establish Penalties House Bills 4207, 4208, and 4209 (Artina Tinsley-Hardman, D-Detroit) provides for adoption, implementation, and enforcement of truancy policies. These bills are tie-barred to each other so that none could become law unless the others also were enacted. Provisions included in this package would:
House Bills 4207, 4208, and 4209 are schedule to be taken up by the House Education Committee on September 30, however, it is not expected that they will be approved at that meeting. bk:opeiu42aflcio |
