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Links to current Advocacy Campaigns
may be found in the Legislative Action Center
Our School Employee Health Care Bills Moving
School Employee Retirement Bill
K-16 Drive End in Sight
Higher Education Construction Funds Approved
Middle School Math Initiative and Increased Foundation Allowance
School Lockdown Drills Legislation Passed House
Board High School Requirements
Rules Revisions for Education
2005 - 2006 Michigan School Readiness Program
Lobby Day 2006
Our School Employee Health Care Bills Moving
Our package of bills allowing districts and our members tools and information in order to analyze heath care options has passed the Senate and is currently on second reading on the House floor. We are still working on key portions of this legislation with Lawmakers, the Insurance Commissioner, and the Administration.
On Tuesday, December 6, the House Education Committee heard supportive testimony was presented on Senate Bills 895, 896, 897, and 898 from AFT Michigan, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 547, the Michigan Association of School Boards, and the Michigan Association of School Administrators. The Michigan Education Special Services Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, and the Office of Financial and Insurance Services also laid out their concerns with the plan.
The problem appears to be over release of claims information necessary for making informed decisions when negotiating for health care plans. In our bills, those companies currently providing coverage to school districts would be required to supply them with claims information, within the bounds of federal law.
All parties are continuing to work toward a solution on controversial portions of the legislation.
If you have not already contacted your state legislator in support of this package of bills, there is still time before it is taken up again next year. An easy way to do that is to e-mail your Legislators the form letter on our website at: www.aftmichigan.org.
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YOUR VOICES HAVE BEEN HEARD
We would like to thank our members who sent over 1,000 e-mail messages from our website to Legislators on the AFT Michigan health care proposal the first week in December. Our thanks also goes out to those who attended meetings with their Legislators, some in conjunction with school administrators.
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School Employee Retirement Bill
House Bill 4947 has been changed to bring the graded premium for health insurance benefits in line with those of state employees, public university employees, and state lawmakers. The legislation would apply only to school employees who start in the system after July 1, 2006. Retirees under the new system would receive 90 percent coverage for their health premiums with 30 years of service; those with less than that but more than 10 years would receive 3 percent for every year served. Retirees would not be allowed to purchase service credits toward their healthcare as well. Switching new school employees to a 401(k) service was taken out of the bill.
A stalemate had been reached on the issue for the overall reform proposal when seven Republicans joined 49 Democrats in opposing it. After the substitute was introduced, four Republicans switched their vote, allowing for the new proposal to pass. However, the vote on passage was reconsidered and then postponed indefinitely.
AFT Michigan is opposed House Bill 4947 in its original form and still opposes the substitute version, contrary to what was printed in the Macomb Daily.
Action Needed: If you have not already contacted your state legislators on this issue, please go to our website at http://www.aftmichigan.org and send an e-mail message.
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K-16 Drive End in Sight
At a recent meeting of the K-16 Coalition, we announced that there are about 250,000 signatures on hand with the cut off date for collecting more coming soon. Initiatives require 254,206 valid signature to qualify for the 2006 ballot.
We need to collect another 40,000 to have a cushion for invalid signatures. If you still have petitions out there, please send them in. Your one or two signatures may help us reach our goal. Mail to: Citizens for Education, Post Office Box 2573, East Lansing, MI 48826-2573.
We want the Legislature to pass a bill that would provide annual funding increases equal to inflation for K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities.
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Higher Education Construction Funds Approved
Senate Bill 236 (Johnson, R-Troy), once again sets aside appropriations of more than $18 million for capital outlay projects at Lansing Community College, Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan State University, and Western Michigan University. These appropriations were cut out of Senate Bill 236 in committee, but were reinstated on the Senate floor.
Senate Bill 236 has passed the Senate and House and has been ordered enrolled.
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Middle School Math Initiative and Increased Foundation Allowance
Under legislation passed by the House on December 8, nearly all school districts would get $49 per pupil to enhance middle school math programs and 613 traditional and charter schools would see increases in their foundation grant of up to $18 per pupil for fiscal year 2005 - 2006. The two bills spend $35 million of $55 million in higher than projected revenues in the last fiscal year, with the rest going to the school stabilization fund.
House Bill 5436 (Moore, R-Farwell) proposes an appropriation of $18.5 million to create a per pupil grant to school districts for each student in grades 6 through 8. The plan would provide $65 per pupil for a full year, but payments for FY 2005-06 would begin in January 2006 and would be prorated to approximately $49 per pupil for the remainder of the fiscal year. Funds would be designated to improve pupil performance on the MEAP mathematics assessments and to help districts meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements for mathematics.
House Bill 5452 (Moolenaar, R-Midland) recommends increasing the appropriation by $16.5 million to reflect a foundation allowance increase of $25 per pupil for all districts with a foundation allowance of less than $7,200 up to a maximum foundation of $7,200, including 386 districts that are at the minimum of $6,875. Payments for FY 2005-06 would begin in January 2006 and would be prorated to approximately $18 per pupil for the remainder of the fiscal year.
House Bills 5436 and 5452 are currently before the Senate Appropriations Committee (these two bills are tie-barred and must both pass to become law). However, the Office of the State Budget cautioned against moving the bills now because final book closing on the 2004-05 year has not occurred and changes could still affect how much extra funds will actually be available.
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School Lockdown Drills
House Bill 4460 (VanRegenmorter, R-Jenison) would require that school officials conduct two lockdown drills each school year, (reducing the minimum number of required fire drills from eight to six) with at least four in the fall and two in the remainder of the year.
The bill specifies that each year there be a minimum of two drills in which the occupants are restricted to the interior of the building and the building secured. House Bill 4460 would have to include security measures that are appropriate to a hazardous material emergency or an emergency involving the presence of an armed individual on or near the premises.
Further, the drill would have to be conducted in coordination with the local emergency management coordinator appointed under the state Emergency Management Act and consistent with applicable federal, state, and local emergency operations plans. House Bill 4460 also requires that the governing body of a school, college, or university, or the owner of a school dormitory seek input from the administration of the school on the nature of the drills to be conducted.
Under the bill, the Department of State Police Emergency Management Division would be required to develop a model to help those conducting and coordinating the drills.
House Bill 4460 passed the House on December 7 and is currently before the Senate Education Committee.
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Board Expands High School Requirements
The State Board of Education added two years of foreign language to the original four years of mathematics, four years of English, three years of science, three years of social science, one year of health and physical education before adopting the policy for high school graduation requirements at their December meeting. (Policy outlined in November 2005 Capitol Report)
The Board also changed wording under the Social Science area to state that U.S. History and World History credits be integrated with Geography, that the Fine Arts Category be changed to Visual and Performing Arts, and that Team Sports be dropped as a credit qualifier in the Health/Physical Education section.
The English requirement was also expanded some, with the board adding that expository as well as creative writing would be among the subjects, as would understanding informational texts. Students would also be expected to have grammar lessons.
In addition to time on certain skills, the requirements include all students taking at least through algebra II, biology and either chemistry or physics. Some board members, following public comments collected, raised concerns that the requirements may be too high for many students. The addition of the language requirement raised additional concerns that students would not have time to take alternative programs such as career and technical education. Other concerns include the timeline for the changes, additional cost, local control, and possible increase in the dropout rate.
School superintendents said they did not have the money in their budgets to meet the new requirements on the timeline announced. If the legislation is in place by March 1, the proposal calls for the new requirements to be effective for the Class of 2010, meaning ninth graders in 2006-07 would have to be offered the first round of classes under the requirements.
The new curriculum recommendation now has to move through the Legislature, where leaders have already indicated there may not be support for some of the requirements beyond math, science and reading. Governor Jennifer Granholm told the board personally that she would support the 18 credits of required coursework laid out by the board.
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Rules Revisions for Education
The State Board of Education has proposed rules revision for Teacher Certification, Certification, Licensure of School Counselors, and School Psychologist Certificates. To date, no hearings have been scheduled on this rules revisions. Listed below are brief explanations of the rules changes. The full revised text of these rules can be viewed on the State of Michigan website at: http://www.state.mi.us/orr/emi/rules.asp?type=dept&id=ED&subCat=&subId=
Teacher Certification Code - The proposed rule revisions are focused on the preparation of teachers; initial certification; advancement in certification; the renewal of certificates; the revocation and suspension of certificates and issuance of teacher permits. The proposed rules would allow for the implementation of Revised School Code requirements. The rules would be used to direct the day-to-day operations of the Department of Education in reviewing preparation programs and applications for teaching certificates and permits.
Certification and Licensure of School Counselors - The proposed rules would align the Michigan requirements for the preparation and certification of school counselors with national standards. The proposed rules would establish a process for the licensing of school counselors.
School Psychologist Certificate - The proposed rules would align the Michigan requirements for the preparation and certification of school psychologists with national standards. The proposed rules alleviate some burdensome requirements for out-of-state applicants for a Michigan school psychologist certificate.
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2005 - 2006 Michigan School Readiness Program
The purpose of this grant program is to improve the readiness and subsequent achievement of children "at-risk" of becoming educationally disadvantaged and who may have extraordinary need of special assistance and/or to provide parent involvement and education programs to families of all children birth to kindergarten entry. Listed below are the AFT Michigan locals that qualified for this initial state grant program.
| District |
Allocated |
Maximum
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| Arenac Eastern School District |
$ 52,800 |
$ 52,800 |
| Brown City Community School District |
$ 105,600 |
$ 105,600 |
| Chesaning Union Schools |
$ 59,400 |
$ 59,400 |
| Crawford Ausable Schools |
$ 105,600 |
$ 105,600 |
| Crestwood School District |
$ 52,800 |
$ 52,800 |
| Dearborn City School District |
$ 1,584,400 |
$ 1,584,400 |
| Detroit City School District |
$ 8,395,200 |
$ 8,395,200 |
| East Detroit City School District |
$ 105,600 |
$ 105,600 |
| Ecorse Public School District |
$ 138,600 |
$ 138,600 |
| Glen Lake Community School District |
$ 16,500 |
$ 16,500 |
| Hale Area Schools |
$ 42,900 |
$ 42,900 |
| Hemlock Public School District |
$ 33,000 |
$ 49,500 |
| Huron Valley Schools |
$ 66,000 |
$ 66,000 |
| Imlay City Community Schools |
$ 105,600 |
$ 105,600 |
| Kingsley Area Schools |
$ 118,800 |
$ 118,800 |
| Lake City Area School District |
$ 118,800 |
$ 118,800 |
| Lake Shore Public Schools |
$ 42,900 |
$ 42,900 |
| Les Cheneaux Community School District |
$ 19,800 |
$ 19,800 |
| Midland Public Schools |
$ 148,500 |
$ 155,100 |
| Onaway Area Community School District |
$ 92,400 |
$ 92,400 |
| Plymouth-Canton Community Schools |
$ 158,400 |
$ 165,000 |
| Romulus Community Schools |
$ 118,800 |
$ 118,800 |
| Roseville Community Schools |
$ 211,200 |
$ 211,200 |
| Rudyard Area Schools |
$ 105,600 |
$ 105,600 |
| Tawas Area Schools |
$ 52,800 |
$ 52,800 |
| Taylor School District |
$ 950,400 |
$ 950,400 |
| Utica Community Schools |
$ 211,200 |
$ 211,200 |
| Van Dyke Public Schools |
$ 422,400 |
$ 422,400 |
| Waterford Public Schools |
$ 336,600 |
$ 336,600 |
| Whitefish Township Schools |
$ 13,200 |
$ 13,200 |
Mark your calendars for
AFT Michigan Lobby Day 2006
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Lansing Center, Lansing, Michigan
Town Hall Meetings with Your Legislators
Details to be Announced in January 2006
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