MEMPSA Legislative Update

DPS Update

The Senate and House this week sent legislation to the Governor that would ensure the solvency of DPS through the end of the school year. House Bill 5296 would utilize $48.7 million from the state tobacco settlement in order to avoid DPS potentially falling short of making payroll as early as April 8. Companion legislation, HB 5385, would stipulate that the Financial Review Commission, currently responsible for oversight of City of Detroit finances as it continues to emerge from bankruptcy, would also oversee DPS finances unless an emergency manager is in place to do so.

The Senate also passed a comprehensive package of DPS reforms authored by Sen. Goeff Hansen (R-Hart) that would do the following:

Create a new debt-free Detroit Community Schools (DCS) district,
Resolve $525 million in DPS debt by utilizing tobacco settlement dollars,
Create a Detroit Education Commission (DEC) charged with oversight of opening and closing of schools within DCS,
Return EAA schools to DCS,
Return local control of the DCS as soon as this coming November, and
Create academic reforms within DCS such as an A-F letter grading system for all schools.

The legislation passed the Senate in a bipartisan fashion, but has been meet with a chilly reception in the House, largely due to the inclusion of the DEC.

The Senate package is the first step in the process of reforming DPS, and we look forward to what likely will be lively debate on the topic when the Legislature returns from spring recess in mid-April. Senator Hansen certainly deserves credit for all of his thoughtful, hard work over the past year creating a package that could win bipartisan support.
HB 4822

The 3rd grade reading bill is headed to a joint House-Senate conference committee to iron out differences after the House failed to come up with the necessary votes yesterday to concur in the changes proposed by the Senate.

Thank you to everyone who took time to weigh in with your State Senator in support of the bill with the changes included by the Senate Education Committee. MEMSPA will keep members updated as the process unfolds. We expect action on the legislation before the summer legislative recess.
K-12 Budget Released by House and Senate Subcommittees

The House and Senate K-12 subcommittees both released their respective proposals this week for the FY 2016-2017 K-12 budget. Both maintained the $60/$120 foundation allowance increase utilizing the “2x” formula. However, a number of changes of interest to MEMSPA were included in each. Below is a summary of some of those changes:

House:

Revises the pupil membership blend from 90% of the fall count plus 10% of the prior February count to 85% of the current October count plus 15% of the previous October count, and includes $13.5 million to fund the change.
Eliminates $5 million in supplemental funding for CEO salaries in the State School Reform/Redesign Office.
Increases “at-Risk” funding by $18 million to allow both Hold Harmless and Out-of-Formula districts to be eligible if more than 50% of their prior year membership pupils were eligible for free lunch.
Eliminates the M-STEP and instead allocates funding for a new replacement computer adaptive test.
Eliminated a proposed additional $10 million for educator evaluations.
Ends requirement that high schoolers take the SAT.

Senate:

Revises the pupil membership blend from 90% of the fall count plus 10% of the prior February count to 75% of the October count plus 25% of the prior February count, and includes $1.3 million to fund the change.
Also eliminates $5 million in supplemental funding to the State School Reform/Redesign Office.
Requires the State to provide the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) to districts who are interested in using it, and requires the MDE to field test a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.

It is important to remember that both proposals are just the first step in the process, but also that the proposals reflect the priorities of the respective K-12 budget chairs.
State Board Asked for Guidance on Assisting Schools with Transgender Students

In response to questions and concerns, the State Board of Education wants to provide clarification regarding a Draft Guidance document on
Safe and Supportive Learning Environments for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Students that currently is out for public comment.

1. A number of school districts asked the State Board of Education for guidance on how to address circumstances where transgender students and their parents express how the students were being marginalized, excluded, and discriminated against.
2. A work group was formed by the State Board to develop a Guidance document for local school districts. This work group consisted of parents, teachers, students, administrators, social workers, psychologists, local school board members, attorneys, and other stakeholders.
3. Draft Guidance was developed by this work group for the State Board to consider adopting, to provide assistance to local school districts that may be faced with these circumstances. This Guidance would not be required to be adopted by any local school district, it merely offers options for districts to consider, if they so choose.

4. As with all State Board of Education guidance, this would not be mandatory for local school districts to adopt. Local school districts each would decide to do what they believe is appropriate and helpful for all of their students.

5. The Draft Guidance was presented at a public meeting of the State Board of Education on March 8. That Draft Guidance now is open for public comment. Each member of the Legislature was sent notice on March 17 of this public comment opportunity, with a link to the Draft Guidance document.

6. The State Board welcomes public input as it will continue to deliberate on providing guidance and assistance for school districts wanting to ensure the safety and inclusion of all of its students.

Persons wanting to provide their input on the Draft Guidance can do so through April 11 at: www.everyvoicecountsmi.org

The Draft Guidance document is available here: https://everyvoicecountsmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SBE-Statement-on-LGBTQ-Youth-2-9-2016-v2.pdf

MEMPSA Update & Meeting Reminder

Hope you are able to attend today’s ADSA General Membership Meeting.  The meeting will be held in the media center at Henry Ford Elementary School starting @ 4:00 p.m.  In addition, there is a special election to vote for a president elect (Heyam Alcodray and Josh Tynan are on the ballot).  The polls will be open from 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. Please make sure to vote and show your support for ADSA.

MEMPSA Legislative Update

Gov. Snyder Delivers State of the State Address

Governor Rick Snyder this week delivered a State of the State address that was much different in tone compared to previous years given the local, state, and national focus on the ongoing Flint water crisis. Governor Snyder, in a somber tone, apologized to those living through this ordeal in the Flint, accepted responsibility, and outlined specific states the State of Michigan is taking to work through the crisis and ensure Flint residents not only have clean, safe water, but financial and logistical support from the State going forward with respect to education, child nutrition and health, infrastructure needs, and water quality.

The Governor also pressed for action to address the ongoing financial crisis in Detroit Public Schools. Legislators to this point have been very hesitant to sign off on a financial bailout of DPS, especially given recent actions by DPS teachers to organize “sickouts” that have forced closure of at times up to 80% of city school buildings. Numerous legislators, including legislative leaders, have characterized the sickouts as de facto strikes, illegal under state law, and have indicated that such actions are counterproductive when asking the Legislature for additional financial assistance for and structural reforms to DPS.

Some key legislative leaders, including House Appropriations Committee Chair Al Pscholka (R-Stevensville) and House K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw) have indicated a willingness to dip into the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund (“Rainy Day Fund”) to fund at least a portion of the necessary $715 billion, or $71.5 billion over the next ten years, in order to hold funding other state school districts harmless. Kelly in particular has noted that the state needs to take action to pay off the debt now, rather than wait and end up on the hook for an eventual bankruptcy that could occur as early as this fall and end up much more expensive in the end for state taxpayers.

However, any additional funding for DPS will certainly need to be accompanied by structural reforms and guarantees before legislators consider taking action. For example, Rep. Kelly has suggested abolishing DPS altogether and ramping up charter authorization to serve the 47,000 children currently in DPS.

A great number of proposals are likely to come forth in the coming weeks with respect to DPS, and we expect the debate to continue throughout the spring. The Governor will likely release his Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget proposal in a few weeks, and that document certainly will shape initial discussions surrounding DPS and overall K-12 funding throughout the state as well.

MEMSPA Advocacy Day

The voice of Michigan’s principals is key in these political times. We are holding our winter MEMSPA legislative Advocacy Day on the morning of March 22, 2016. Please let me know if you are able to join us for a morning breakfast briefing, visit with your district’s House and Senate members, and a lunch debrief. We will schedule an appointment for you to meet your state representative and provide you with talking points and format. This is an important time in Michigan’s education reform movement and we need your voice to influence positive reasonable change. Please plan to join us.
RSVP to paul@memspa.org

Legislatative Update & Save the Date…

Below is the latest update from MEMPSA for your reading pleasure. Also, please mark your calendars for our next ADSA meeting to be held

FEBRUARY 1, 2016 at Bryant Middle School, starting at 4 pm

Hope to see you there!

MEMSPA Advocacy Day

The voice of Michigan’s principals is key in these political times. We are holding our winter MEMSPA legislative Advocacy Day on the morning of March 22, 2016. Please let me know if you are able to join us for a morning breakfast briefing, visit with your district’s House and Senate members, and a lunch debrief. We will schedule an appointment for you to meet your state representative and provide you with talking points and format. This is an important time in Michigan’s education reform movement and we need your voice to influence positive reasonable change. Please plan to join us.
RSVP to paul@memspa.org
Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference

State Treasurer Nick Khouri met with the Directors of the Senate and House Fiscal Agencies today to update revenue estimates for both the current state Fiscal Year and upcoming Fiscal Years at the biannual Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC).

The state General Fund is expected to end Fiscal Year 2015 with a significant year-end balance, though much of that balance will be utilized to cover ongoing spending pressures such as Medicaid caseload adjustments, employee pay raises, inflationary increases and revenue sharing payments, including accelerating personal property tax reimbursement payments to local units of government and school districts. However, much of that year-end balance is due to a “one-time” increase in income tax collections and deferment of Michigan Business Tax (MBT) credit claims to 2016. As a result, the updated revenue projections for the General Fund do not necessarily differ greatly from the past estimates in May, but rather reflect a shift in some revenues to 2015 and corresponding shift in some obligations to 2016. Overall, while the state will have some one-time revenue to fund priorities such as roads or the public health crisis in Flint, most of the year-end lapse in the General Fund will be utilized to backfill 2016 obligations.

Why do General Fund revenues matter to schools? Governor Snyder and the Legislature have increasingly melded both GF and School Aid Fund (SAF) revenues together in recent years, essentially creating a bigger pot of money with somewhat blurred lines as opposed to past practice when SAF revenues strictly supported K-12 schools. While the SAF has always received revenue from the GF, utilizing SAF revenues to supplement other areas of the budget previously funded only with GF (universities and community colleges) was a practice begun in the last year of the Granholm Administration and accelerated significantly under Governor Snyder.

The SAF projected to see less revenue in the current and coming year than expected due to lower sales tax collections, largely from decreasing gas prices. However, cuts are not likely as overall SAF revenues are projected to continue to increase year-over-year, just not as much compared to prior estimates. The FY 2016-2017 pupil count is predicted to continue to decline as well by roughly 9,800 to a total of 1,480,000 compared to 1,494,800 in FY 2015-2016. However, in a bit of good news, that decrease is 5,200 less than expected when compared to last May’s estimate.

Looking for Nominations…

The A.D.S.A. president elect position has been recently opened again with the appointment of Youssef Mosallam as Executive Director for the Edsel Ford Feeder Track.

Therefore, we are looking for president elect nominations.  Email Rita Rauch or Kristi Waddell with your nomination.  Please ensure that all nominees are willing to accept your recommendation to the position.

We will have a special election at our next A.D.S.A. meeting after the first of the year.

Legislative Update…

Evaluation Legislation Passes House
Senate Bill 103 remains on the House floor awaiting consideration. However, the respective Senate and House Education Chairs appear to be very close to agreement on a final version of the bill, and action may yet happen this month. MEMSPA is encouraged by latest dialogue between the two chambers, and we are supportive of making the final minor modifications necessary to advance a bill to the Governor’s desk that he can sign in short order to replace the 50% student growth and assessment threshold for teacher and administrator evaluations in current law.
At long last, we appear to be headed towards closure with respect to reforming teacher and administrator evaluations. Senate Bill 103, sponsored by Senate Committee Chair Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), passed the House yesterday by an overwhelming vote of 97-8. As Senator Pavlov has indicated he is comfortable with the bill as passed, Senate concurrence is likely.

The changes to the bill adopted on the House floor yesterday include funding for training in the evaluation tool utilized by the district and language establishing minimum requirements for the State Superintendent to issue or renew an advanced professional education certificate. Most importantly, the bill deletes the requirement in current law that 50% of teacher and administrator evaluations will be based on student growth and assessment data starting in the 2015-2016 school year in favor of a more gradual, phased in approach.

MEMSPA is supportive of the bill, and we look forward to a vote in the Senate to concur with the House changes and send the bill to Governor Snyder for his signature.

Early Literacy Legislation Passes House
After a marathon 8 hour session on Wednesday, House Republicans were unable to drum up sufficient support to pass Rep. Amanda Price’s (R-Park Twp.) early literacy legislation, House Bill 4822. HB 4822 had bipartisan support in the House Education Committee, but when the bill hit the floor, Democrats largely indicated opposition to the bill, meaning majority Republicans were forced to secure the bulk of the votes for passage of the bill from their side of the aisle.

After adoption of a number of amendments from Republican legislators addressing individual member concerns, the bill passed on Thursday by a vote of 57-48, with Republicans generally supporting and Democrats generally opposing. Six Republicans voted against the bill and three Democrats voted in favor.

The floor amendments included the following:

Retention, under the guise of “smart promotion”, is still included, but will not be effective for third graders until the 2019-2020 school year,
Inclusion of “systematic, explicit, multisensory, and sequential” language in the early intervention tool section to address concerns from dyslexia advocacy groups,
Inclusion of Hindi and Korean within the ELL section in addition to Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese,
A requirement for the MI Department of Education to complete grade 3 English Language Arts assessment scoring by June 1 of each year,
A change from “proficiency” to “competency” in a pupil’s portfolio of English language work samples in grade 3 that would allow the student a path to avoid retention, and
Clarification that a student with Section 504/disability plan cannot be held back from advancing with their peers due to reading proficiency, as is provided in Federal law.

The bill will now likely head to the Senate Education Committee for further consideration. Governor Snyder has not yet indicated whether he supports the bill as passed by the House, but in the past has generally indicated a hesitancy to support mandatory retention.

Critical Shortage Update
Legislation to address critical shortage, HB 4059, remains on the Senate floor awaiting action. With movement this week by the House of both early literacy and teacher evaluation legislation, the Senate is now more likely to act on HB 4059 in the coming weeks. We will continue to keep MEMSPA members updated and remain cautiously optimistic that will see resolution on critical shortage before the end of the year.

Tenure Questions?

As you are planning for Teacher evaluations, here is a summary of how tenure is obtained…

Tenure is obtained based on the state law. For most teachers that is a 5 year process from date of hire. In teachscape the teacher should check the 1st through 5th year.

If a teacher has tenure from another district they would need to provide us with proof. With proof, we have a 2 year probationary process for them to have tenure with Dearborn.

There are exceptions that allow a teacher rated Highly Effective for the 2nd through 4th year to obtain tenure after the 4th year.

Any teacher rated minimally effective after the 2nd year can’t obtain tenure under the law and would need to be non-renewed the year of their minimally effective 3rd, 4th or 5th year. They have the option to resign.

We track teachers tenure dates in the cyborg system. David or Joanne can answer questions on specific teachers or run you a report.

Legislative Updates…

Evaluation Legislation Update

Senate Bill 103 remains on the House floor awaiting consideration. However, the respective Senate and House Education Chairs appear to be very close to agreement on a final version of the bill, and action may yet happen this month. MEMSPA is encouraged by latest dialogue between the two chambers, and we are supportive of making the final minor modifications necessary to advance a bill to the Governor’s desk that he can sign in short order to replace the 50% student growth and assessment threshold for teacher and administrator evaluations in current law.
House Education Committee Update

The House Education Committee this week took testimony on House Bill 4493, sponsored by Rep. Klint Kesto (R-Commerce Twp.), that would create a 15-member, gubernatorial-appointed advisory committee to develop age-appropriate material educating students on genocide and the Holocaust. Similar to legislation that passed the Senate but stalled in the House last session, HB 4493 would require at least six hours of teaching on genocide and the Holocaust for students between 8th and 12th grade, and would require a question on state assessments related to either subject. Similar legislation has been adopted in other states, and the committee may return to the subject for potential action in the near future.

Senate Education Committee Update

The Senate Education Committee this week passed HB 4059, which would address critical shortage and substitute teaching needs. MEMSPA encourages members to thank the committee chair, Sen. Pavlov, for advancing this long-overdue legislation to the Senate floor. As the committee adopted some changes to the bill, the bill will need concurrence votes in both the Senate and House in order to advance to the Governor.

GSRP

Governor Snyder this week signed into law Senate Bill 134, sponsored by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell). SB 134, now Public Act 139 of 2015, ensures that districts will receive at least the same number of GSRP slots this year as they received during the last school year. The legislation was necessary given that a number of districts throughout the state submitted GSRP slot allocations that reflected increased need, and without any additional dollars available, the existing GSRP formula provided gains in slots for some districts, while others would have been forced to layoff staff due to reductions in slots.

The legislation also clarifies language in Section 31(a) of the School Aid Act with respect to increased at-risk funding and reading The language states that the three-year “shot clock” for demonstrating third grade reading proficiency amongst at-risk student begins in the current 2015-2016 school year. Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, if a district does not demonstrate that at least fifty percent of at-risk pupils are reading at grade level by the end of third grade, the district must do the following:

Determine the proportion of total at-risk pupils not reading at grade level and,
Dedicate that same proportion multiplied by one-half of the district’s at-risk funding toward tutoring and/or other methods of improving third grade reading levels.

The new language accompanies the $70 million increase in at-risk funding included in the 2015-2016 School Aid budget.

MEMPSA Legislative Update

MEMSPA – Teacher and Administrator Evaluation Update

The House Education Committee held another hearing this week on Senate Bill 103.  After multiple weeks of testimony from groups and individuals both in support of and in opposition to the bill, the votes do not exist in the committee to move the bill to the House floor at this time.  Both Democratic and Republican members on the committee have expressed concerns with the bill as passed by the Senate, and attempts to reach consensus thus far have not been successful.  At this point, the major concerns raised by committee members are as follows:

• Some members have indicated they do not support the Senate version, but rather prefer the version of the bills that passed last session overwhelmingly in the House that required districts to choose from a list of research-based standardized evaluation tools with funding provided for schools both to purchase the tools and train evaluators.

• Some members feel that schools already have placed excessive testing requirements on students and teachers, and would prefer a lower portion of evaluations to be based on student growth than the 40% threshold in the bill as passed by the Senate.  However, while lowering that percentage gains some votes on the committee, other members feel the 40% threshold for student growth should be increased and have indicated they would opposed efforts to reduce that number.

• The Governor’s office has indicated he does not support Senate Bill 103 as passed by the Senate.

If the legislature is unable to reach agreement on a new teacher and administrator evaluation framework before the start of the next school year this fall, current law dictates the percentage of evaluations based on student growth will automatically increase to 50%.  Given that the House is only scheduled to be in session for a few days in July and August before returning to regular session in September, and that he Senate will recess next week before returning to session for the summer other than a two-week recess in late July/Early August, time is running short.

MEMSPA remains hopeful that all parties continue to meet over the summer to resolve differences.