The Latest on the K-12 Budget: Revenue, MPSERS, and an “Historic Coalition”
While Friday gave us the final revenue estimates that will be used in negotiating the final K-12 budget, the headline of this week is the "historic coalition" of school management and labor groups putting forward a joint proposal to lower pension costs for districts and employees, returning money to classrooms and paychecks. In a joint letter sent to every member of the Michigan Legislature and the Governor, MASSP and a coalition that included…
Reviewing Recent Changes to MI’s Cardiac Emergency Response Law
During day three of the NFL draft that took place in Detroit this past weekend and with Damar Hamlin looking on, Governor Whitmer signed into law some changes to Michigan’s school cardiac emergency response law. Since 2014 Michigan has had a law on the books requiring districts to have a cardiac emergency response plan that includes training, the use and maintenance of AEDs, and a cardiac emergency response team, so this isn't…
House Reports Excellent K-12 Budget Rec
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and Education voted out their version of the 2024-25 K-12 budget on Thursday and it was, by far, the best of the bunch. The headline is that the recommendation allocated an additional $291 million to reduce district MPSERS obligations, a change that will result in huge, ongoing savings for local districts. Even with that sizable allocation to reducing district costs, the House still managed a…
Senate Reports First Legislative Budget Rec of the Year
The Senate is the first of the two legislative chambers out of the gate with their 2024-25 budget proposal, voting their bill out of subcommittee on Tuesday. Where the Governor's proposal gave across the board 2.5% increases to most of the core line items schools rely on, the Senate proposal spends more on some (e.g. foundation allowance and At Risk) and less on others (e.g. CTE, isolated districts). It also doubles down…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
The last week of legislative session before the House and Senate took their two week spring recess saw action in both chambers. The Senate Education Committee voted out legislations on two different issues: SB 285 would make Kindergarten attendance mandatory beginning in the 2025-26 school year as well as require all districts who offer first grade to offer Kindergarten and SB 744 would adjust teacher tenure requirements and fix some unintended errors created when educator…
Gov’s Budget: Moderate Increases to Core Funding, Expands Scope of Public Ed
Governor Whitmer's Executive Budget Proposal for the 2024-25 fiscal year is out. The proposal includes moderate 2.5% ongoing increases for the major core line items schools rely on like the foundation allowance, At Risk, and special education funding. The big focus of new investment in the Governor's budget was expanding the scope of public education beyond K-12 to encompass universal pre-K for 4-year-olds and tuition-free community college for all high school graduates,…
Supreme Court Grants Leave to Appeal in ORS Lawsuit
The Michigan Supreme Court has granted MASA's motion to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeals in Batista v. ORS and will hear the appeal on an expedited schedule. The Court is scheduling oral arguments for April and we are hopeful that the expedited timeline will mean principals and other school administrators get some resolution sooner rather than later. While the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, they denied MASA's motion…
Clarification on Administrator Certification Renewal
At MASSP's AP Summit this past week, attendees got the advice that they try to align the renewals of their teacher and administrator certificates so that they can count the same education-related professional learning toward renewing both certificates. That prompted some calls to MDE, some confusion when callers were told alignment wasn't necessary, and some deeper digging by MASSP. Bottom line: holding a valid professional teaching certificate satisfies the continuing education requirements…
State of the State’s Education Focus is Mostly Outside K-12
On Wednesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered her sixth State of the State address. While education did feature prominently in her remarks, the focus was on expanding the scope of public education beyond K-12 to include preschool and community college. As she has for the last several years, the Governor touted the state's increased investment in public education, particularly noting a 22% increase in per-pupil funding over the past five years. Here are…
Michigan Population Council Releases Final Report
The Growing Michigan Together Council, which was convened earlier this year by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and charged with recommending how to reverse 40 years of population stagnation, released its final recommendations. The report emphasized the need for K-12 schools, community colleges and four-year universities to create a seamless path for students as they reach their 20s. The group’s recommendations fall into three main categories: The final report groups its recommendations into three…