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 August July June May April March February January 2001 2000 |
Return to Legislative Hotline
Long Term Care Insurance Bill Passed The House Charter School Expansion Legislation Coming Up Again Campus Fire Protection Appropriations before Governor State Announces Pilot Program for Wireless Classrooms Child Advocate Office Legislation Special Education Advisory Committee Bill Vetoed MFT&SRP Member Appointed to State Teacher Tenure Commission Grant Programs 2003 IDEA Part B & Part C 2002 - 2003 Homeless Students' Assistance Grant Program 2002 - 2003 Competitive Reading First 2002 - 2003 Michigan School Readiness Competitive Grant Program may be found on the Legislative Hotline page of this website.  Return to Top Long Term Care Insurance Bill Passed The House House Bill 4376 (Representative Stephen Ehardt, R-Lexington) would amend the Public School Employees Retirement Act to require the retirement system to withhold the entire monthly premium for group long term care insurance coverage for retirees and their beneficiaries and dependents, at the option of the retiree. The bill specifies that if the entire monthly premium were greater than the retirement allowance, the retirement system would withhold the entire retirement allowance and apply it toward the premium. The bill would apply only for a long term care benefit plan authorized by the retirement system. "Long term care benefits" would be defined to mean group insurance to cover the cost of services provided by nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health care providers, adult day care providers, and other similar service providers. House Bill 4376 has passed the House and is now before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Return to Top Charter School Expansion Legislation Coming Up Again It is likely that House Bill 4800 (Rep. Kuipers, R-Holland) will be taken up again by the House when they return after the general election. President Hecker, and Louise Somalski, appeared for the second time this year before the Democratic House Caucus to express our concerns about the bill. Although our comments were well received, the caucus withdrew their position in opposition to House Bill 4800. We would like to thank our members who have assisted in expressing our opposition to charter school expansion legislation to their state representatives and senators. We also greatly appreciate assistance from the AFL-CIO and their affiliates in sending letters to state legislators. This was very helpful in view of the MEA's support of House Bill 4800. It is essential that our members keep communicating our opposition to charter school expansion to their legislators. When candidates come to your door campaigning this fall, be sure to discuss this issue with them. Listed below are suggested talking points on House Bill 4800.
Return to Top Campus Fire Protection Appropriations before Governor As passed by the State Legislature, House Bill 5671 (Representative Shackleton, Sault Ste. Marie) appropriates $7,421,000 from the State Liquor Purchase Revolving Fund to the Michigan Department of Transportation for transfer to the Department of Consumer and Industry Services for fire protection grants to local units of government. This money would be used to provide fire protection in cities that have a college campus within their jurisdiction. This bill is presently before the Governor for his signature. However, the Governor has line-item vetoed this provision in a previous budget bill. Return to Top State Announces Pilot Program for Wireless Classrooms On August 30, the Department of Education and the Michigan Virtual University announced the 2002 - 2003 Learning Without Limits Grant Program. This program is supported by 2002 - 2003 Michigan State Aid funds as well as Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 funds. Up to $9.5 million will be available in grants for five school districts. In addition to the up to $2 million per school district that will be awarded to five districts, another 10 districts with existing programs will be granted up to $100,000 each. The awards will be made based on a district's plan to involve the business and higher education communities in securing support and geographic diversity (one program is automatically slated for an Upper Peninsula district). Ready cash from the district itself to support their proposed program will not be one of the criteria. The criteria to determine eligibility for Learning Without Limits grant funding include the following:
Districts can apply online at http://wireless.mivu.org. Applications are due by 5 p.m. October 15, with winners announced in October. Officials hope to have all of the pilot projects in operation by the start of schools' second semester. Return to Top Child Advocate Office Legislation House Bill 5967, (Representative Lauren Hagar, Port Huron) would replace the Office of the Children's Ombudsman with the Child Advocate Office. It changes the Children's Ombudsman function from a child welfare oversight entity to an investigative entity with the power to do original and parallel investigations. The MFT&SRP's is greatly concerned about new provisions in House Bill 5967 are that it would:
This bill establishes undefined discretion for the release of confidential information by the Ombudsman based on the "general public interest". The ability to disclose confidential information envisioned by this bill violates the Michigan Child Protection Law and the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. It may actually cause problems with federal confidentiality statues (e.g., FERPA, HIPAA). This bill has been reported out of the Family and Children Services and was referred for second reading on the floor of the House. Return to Top Special Education Advisory Committee Bill Vetoed House Bill 4990 (Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland), which would have increased the size of the Special Education Advisory Committee by five members, from 27 to 33 appointees, has been vetoed by Governor. The purpose of this bill was to ensure compliance with Federal law. Although the Governor says he supports the 1997 federal amendment; he does not believe the SEAC needs more members to comply with its provisions. The SEAC is currently operating with 51 percent of its members meeting the disability requirement and recently added the two new federally- required groups. He stated that the State Board of Education has already increased, in direct violation of state statute, the membership on the committee to 29. He believes that rather than increasing the number of SEAC members, the State Board of Education should work together and utilize their eight at-large member appointments to meet federal and state requirements. The Governor feels that with the right leadership, the State Board of Education could easily rearrange the current membership on the SEAC to meet federal and state requirements. He thinks they can maintain the 27 members currently allowed by state law and in that number include the two new federally-required representatives and remove voting members that overlap responsibilities or groups that are not statutorily required. Enrolled House Bill 4990 has been re-referred to the Committee on Education. Return to Top MFT&SRP Member Appointed to State Teacher Tenure Commission Gay Ann Travis, Vice President of the Kingsley Federation of Teachers, has been appointed by Governor Engler to succeed Anne Cruce, to represent classroom instructors on the Michigan Teacher Tenure Commission for a term expiring August 31, 2007. Return to Top 2003 IDEA Part B & Part C This federally-funded formula grant program provides funding for : a) instructional programs, services, and materials to students with disabilities who are 3 through 21 years of age; b) regulatory oversight and/or enhancement of existing programs and services; c) technology, materials, and training for regular and special education teachers serving students with disabilities; d) implementation of systemic change; and e) transition services to 14 to 21 year olds students with disabilities.
Return to Top "2002 - 2003 Homeless Students" Assistance Grant Program This federally-funded competitive grant program is to stimulate the development of policies and procedures to remove barriers for educating homeless students in local and intermediate school districts, public school academies, and charter schools.
Return to Top "2002 - 2003 Competitive Reading First" The purpose of this federally-funded competitive grant program is to ensure that all of America's children learn to read well by the end of the third grade. Lansing Public Schools, Romulus Community Schools, and Ypsilanti Public Schools applied but were not funded for these grants. Hamtramck Public Schools, Highland Park Public Schools, Inkster Public Schools, and Taylor Public Schools were eligible for these grants, but did not apply.
Return to Top 2002 - 2003 Michigan School Readiness Competitive Grant Program The purpose of this state-funded competitive 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. The programs funded with these grants support fostering investment in early childhood education and in linking schools to families and communities.
Wayne State University's program is center-based. The program is housed in two sites on the Wayne State University campus: the College of Education Early Childhood Center (72 children) and the Merrill-Palmer Child Development Lab (18 children). The Program will operate five days a week, three hours a day for 40 weeks. Both sites will offer full-day services and summer programs. Unique features of this project are: 1) a diverse group of families and learners; 2) urban sites for training students, undergraduate through doctorate, to examine theory and practice as they relate to the development and education of young children; 3) highly credentialed teachers with years of experience: and 4) an established history of community collaboration.
Lansing Community College will provide an Alternative Schedule Readiness program (Early LCC) for eight at-risk four-year-old children at the Educational Child Care Center. Children will attend two days per week (four on Monday and Wednesday and four on Tuesday and Thursday) for 33 weeks corresponding to LCC's Fall 2002 and Spring 2003 semesters. Children will receive a minimum of ten hours of weekly contact during primary program times of 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Readiness programming is integrated during all times the program is open and all parts of the day to develop the whole child (social, emotional, physical, cognitive, language, creative and cultural). Early LCC follows a developmentally-based and child-centered constructionist curriculum. bk:opeiu42aflcio |
