Lame Duck Review/New Year Update
Now that the dust has settled on the recent lame duck session and a new legislative session is upon us, below are some highlights of legislation enacted at the end of 2018 of particular interest to MEMSPA:
Enacted:
School Safety Package
After some back-and-forth between the House and Senate over the past two years with respect to developing school safety standards and potential powers and duties of a State School Safety Commission, Governor Snyder signed a package of bills relating to school safety that would do the following:
Provide criminal penalties for threatening a school with a weapon,
Create a School Safety Commission and Office of School Safety within the Michigan State Police that would review and make recommendations related to school safety,
Require school boards to designate liaisons to work with the School Safety Commission and Office of School Safety and regular updates of contact information,
Require districts to develop emergency operations plans for school buildings,
Require consultation with local law enforcement before major construction or renovation of school buildings or athletic fields,
Allows school boards to consider security planning in closed sessions, and
Requires districts to report certain crimes or attempted crimes to MSP as well as the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Supplemental Appropriations
MEMSPA successfully secured an additional $1 million to continue the work of the early literacy task force in the year-end K-12 supplemental appropriations bill, Public Act 586 of 2018.
The supplemental also includes an additional $18 million in “hold harmless” at-risk funding, $30 million for school mental health and support services administered at the ISD level, and an additional $1 million for training materials for ISDs choosing to utilize or implement new GSRP curricula.
A-F
The school letter grading bill was signed into law by Governor Snyder as Public Act 601 of 2018. While portions of the legislation will begin to take effect this year, MDE has asked Attorney General Dana Nessel to review whether certain provisions violate federal law, so some uncertainty may lie ahead with respect to the law’s implementation.
Not Enacted:
Educator Evaluations
Unfortunately, the Senate did not take up House Bills 5707 and 6401, which would have maintained the percentage of student growth in teacher and administrator evaluations at 25%. We expect this legislation to be reintroduced shortly in the new legislative session and will continue to advocate for passage.
Committee Assignments
The Senate has announced committee chairs for the 2019-2020 session. Of particular importance to MEMSPA are the appointments of Senator Jim Stamas (R-Midland) to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Wayne Schmidt (R-Traverse City) to chair the Senate K-12 and MDE Appropriations Subcommittees, and Senator Lana Theis (R-Brighton) to chair the Senate Committee on Education and Career Readiness.
We expect news of House committee assignments to be forthcoming over the next few weeks.
