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. 2002 October September August July June May April March February January 2001 2000 |
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Lame Duck Update Board Approves Federal Progress Standards Sex Between School Employees and Students District Election of University Governing Boards Longer Maximum Work Hours for Teens School Facilities Authority 2002 Golden Apple & Governor's Cup Awards Winners Detroit Awarded Wireless Classrooms Grant Grant Programs: 2002 - 2003 Teen Health Center Grant 2002 - 2003 Comprehensive School Health Education 2002 - 2003 Mathematics and Science Centers 2002 - 2003 Rural and Low Income School Program 2001 - 2002 School Renovation, IDEA, and Technology Grant Program 2002 - 2003 Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program 2001 - 2002 Title II-Dwight D. Eisenhower Development may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top Lame Duck Update Thank you for all the internet letters and communications sent to Legislators during the past two weeks opposing detrimental legislation that has been put on the fast track for passage during lame duck session. The privatization of substitute teachers bill (SB 213) has not been placed on the daily House agenda yet, and no vote has been taken. The charter school expansion bill (HB 4800) has been on the agenda every session day, but so far no vote has been taken. We expect them to come up for a vote before they adjourn. When the legislature returns on December 3, there will be pressure to pass legislation before they leave, as all current bills die December 31. Stay tuned and keep up the good work! Return to Top Board Approves Federal Progress Standards At its November meeting, the State Board of Education adopted Adequate Yearly Progress standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The board also set a definition of proficiency under the Education YES! accreditation plan, but put off voting on cut scores for portions of that system until December. According to the state's new definition of Adequate Yearly Progress, individual school formulas will be calculated as the higher percentage of students at the MEAP proficient level in reading and math who are in the state's lowest achieving subgroup of students as follows: students who are economically disadvantaged, students from major racial and ethnic subgroups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency. A school will be determined to have made Adequate Yearly Progress if its achievement levels are above its target goal for a given year, OR if the percent of students who are not proficient is decreased by 10 percent annually. Proficiency in Michigan will now be defined as those students who score at Level 1 or Level 2 on the MEAP test in math and satisfactory in reading. Using the standards approved by the board, the Department of Education initially estimated that 807 elementary and middle schools could be listed as failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for the current school year. Of those, 149 would be required to offer students choices of other schools in the district including transportation and 486 would have to write plans to restructure next year. It is possible that of the 2,480 elementary and middle schools in Michigan, as many as 2,000 may not make Adequate Yearly Progress in coming years. Schools will be notified within the next five to six weeks whether they meet Adequate Yearly Progress using the 2001-2002 MEAP results. Though states were supposed to being reporting Adequate Yearly Progress in 1995, Michigan was one of the few states to actually do so, and so is one of the few states to see schools nearing the sanction of a forced reorganization. Under the federal law, that reorganization could range from changing curriculum to hiring consultants to replacing staff to closing the school. The State Board of Education will consider the final piece of Education YES!, as it continues work on system cut scores at its regularly scheduled meeting on December 12. Return to Top Sex Between School Employees and Students Senate Bill 1127 (Senator Emmons, R-Big Rapids) prohibits sexual relations between a teacher, administrator, or other employee, volunteer, or contractual services provider of a public or nonpublic school and a student. One significant change from current law is that school employees are being listed separately in the code, whereas before school employees were covered under the code as a person "in a position of authority over the victim." Additionally, sexual relations with a student less than 18 years of age would be considered illegal regardless of their consent. The violation would be first-degree criminal sexual assault if the act involved sexual penetration, or second degree criminal sexual assault if it involved sexual contact, if the student were at least 13 but less than16 years old. The violation would be third-degree criminal sexual assault if the act involved sexual penetration, or fourth-degree criminal sexual assault if it involved sexual contact, if the student were at least 16 but less than 18 years old. Under the bill, the third- and fourth-degree violations would not apply if the student were emancipated or if the two people were lawfully married to each other at the time of the alleged violation. Senate Bill 1127 has been passed by the Senate is on its way to the House Education Committee. Return to Top District Election of University Governing Boards House Bill 6483 (Representative Koetje, R-Grandville), would create four districts for the election of members of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University, and the Board of Governors of Wayne State University. Currently board members are elected from the state at-large. The university boards' districts would be the same as the Court of Appeals' districts, established by the Revised Judicature Act of 1961. Beginning with the general election in November 2004, each district would be entitled to two members of each board, who would be elected by the voters in that district for eight-year staggered terms. At its fall state convention preceding a general election in which a district was entitled to elect a board member, each political party could nominate one registered and qualified elector of the district as a candidate for the office. After the general election in November 2004, if a vacancy on any of the boards occurred and the office holder creating the vacancy had been elected from a district, the governor would have to appoint a registered and qualified elector of that district to fill the vacancy. House Bill 6483 is currently before the House Committee on Commerce. It did not come up for testimony due to the amount of dissension from various groups-Republicans and Democrats alike. However, the bill could still return in December in another form. Return to Top Longer Maximum Work Hours for Teens The House Commerce Committee has approved House Bill 4875 (Representative Stamas, R- Midland), which would allow a student 16 years of age or older to work a total of 20 hours per week, or 24 hours per week with the written consent of the minor's parent or guardian, while school is in session. Current law allows students 16 years of age or older to have a combined school and work week of 48 hours. This equates to roughly 17.5 hours during a typical school week (though this would vary by district and school). House Bill 4875 is currently before the full House for a vote. Return to Top School Facilities Authority Senate Bill 1506 (Senator Johnson, R-Royal Oak) would establish the Michigan Public Educational Facilities Authority to encourage private developers to help build public school buildings. Governor Engler established the authority last March in EO 2002-3 as a way to help build and renovate school buildings. Under the authority, "public-private" agreements can be set up with real estate developers to build or renovate school buildings that are then leased by a school district. At the end of the lease, the buildings are then turned over to the district or the state for no more money. This bill puts into statute what Governor Engler established by an Executive Order. This is being done to prohibit Governor-Elect Granholm from terminating the authority by Executive Order. Senate Bill 1506 has been approved by the Senate Education Committee and is currently awaiting a vote on the floor of the Senate. Return to Top 2002 Golden Apple & Governor's Cup Awards Winners On October 30th Governor John Engler announced the 127 schools that won the 2002 Golden Apple Award, an award of $10,000 per school for teachers and principals at Michigan's high achieving and most improved elementary schools. To qualify for a Golden Apple Award, elementary schools with 50 or more students enrolled must have at least 90 percent of their students take the MEAP tests, and meet one or both of the following criteria:
MFT&SRP Golden Apple Award winners include:
Engler also presented the 79 Governor's Cup Winners for 2002, an award that is given to the high schools in classes A, B, C and D that had the most Merit Award winners in the class of 2002. MFT&SRP Governor's Cup Award winners are listed below.
The number of Merit Award winners is increasing statewide with a record 51,733 students in the class of 2002 earned the awards. For 2003, the Department of Treasury is projecting that another 58,000 students will earn the award. Return to Top Detroit Awarded Wireless Classrooms Grant Detroit Public Schools was among six school districts throughout Michigan receiving funds to implement wireless laptop computers in some of their classrooms. Districts will target the program at specific grade levels. Under this program, the Detroit Public Schools will receive $1.1 million. It is paid for by $6 million in federal funds and $3.5 million in state funds, was launched by House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy) with the Department of Education and the Michigan Virtual University collaborating to administer it. Ninety-four school districts turned in applications. Several of the state's 15 public universities and numerous private technology firms offered assistance to the school districts that applied. About 10,000 pupils are expected to benefit from the program out of the state's roughly 1.7 million school children. Wireless technology in schools is a cheaper alternative for technology that avoids problems in older school buildings that lack high-speed phone lines for relatively smooth Internet activity and insufficient electric outlets. Wireless also offers mobility and avoids a ganglion of cords and wires in classrooms. Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Teen Health Center Grant This is a state-funded grant program to provide agencies, institutions, and organizations with sufficient funds to enable them to implement nonclinical or clinical health center services which are designed to provide health education, peer counseling, screening/case finding services, referral for primary or speciality care, and/or health related community activities in a teen friendly manner.
Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Comprehensive School Health Education This state-funded grant to enable intermediate/local school districts to establish or expand high- quality comprehensive school health education programs to provide a safe and caring place for all students to learn positive health behaviors, reduce risk behaviors, and prevent diseases, thereby resulting in healthy students who are ready and able to learn and become healthy, educated, and productive adults.
Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Mathematics and Science Centers This state-funded grant program to provide continuing support to regional Mathematics and Science Centers which provide products and services to students, teachers, and the communities they serve, to increase public awareness of the need for science and mathematics education, and to enhance the abilities and knowledge of teachers of mathematics and science.
Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Rural and Low Income School Program This federally-funded grant program is to address the unique needs of rural school districts that lack personnel and resources needed to compete effectively for federal competitive grants and that receive formula grant allocations in amounts too small to be effective in meeting their intended purposes.
Return to Top 2001 - 2002 School Renovation, IDEA, and Technology Grant Program - Category 2 This federally-funded grant program will provide assistive technology for Special Education students and general technology needs for all students.
Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program This federally-funded grant program is intended to determine the feasibility of offering students in 25 elementary schools or secondary schools free fresh and dried fruit and fresh vegetables throughout the school day and to determine its success by measuring students' willingness to participate in the program.
Return to Top 2001 - 2002 Title II-Dwight D. Eisenhower Development This federally-funded grant program is authorized by the Improving America Schools Act of 1996. It is awarded to institutions of higher education to support the development and implementation of sustained and intensive high quality professional development activities in mathematics, science, and core academic subjects. Category E: New Teacher Induction Support Programs: Wayne State University Amount Requested: $216,000 Amount Recommended: $216,000
Detroit Public Schools' Induction/Mentoring Program:
A Collaboration of Wayne State University and the Detroit Public Schools This project focuses on the need to train mentors to support teachers new to the profession during the three-year induction period. The project will use previously developed resources for the training of mentor teachers as well as incorporating the best practices identified from the latest practice. Mentors will receive sufficient preparation to provide training to other experienced teachers to become mentors to new teachers. The project will provide up to ten days of training to potential mentors. bk:opeiu42aflcio Return to Top |
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