This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
The House’s failure to conduct an effective lame-duck session, which dominated political headlines in December, has now spilled into the new year—while, as we noted in our lame-duck recap, the Senate powered through a record-setting 29-hour final session and passed nearly 100 bills, the House completely botched its responsibilities on the back end, delaying presentation of those bills to the Governor until just last week, meaning we still don't have a complete…
January CREC Shows Revenues, Balances Growing
The State Treasurer and directors of the House and Senate Fiscal Agencies met Friday to come to consensus on the revenue estimates that will be used to begin the state budget process for 2025-26 fiscal year. The short story: state revenues for last year and this year have been robust and higher than expected, exceeding projections from the May 2024 estimates by hundreds of millions. That means that the state is projected…
MASSP’s 2025-26 Legislative Priorities
This past December, 319 principals—representing about 20% of MASSP's membership—participated in our biennial priority survey to identify the top policy priorities MASSP members want us to focus on for the upcoming legislative session. While the results show that all seven issues presented in the survey were viewed as important, three stood out as the clear front-runners. These top-ranked priorities will provide the focus for MASSP’s proactive advocacy efforts over the next two…
2023-24 Legislature Ends Session with House Stagnation, Marathon Senate Session
The 2023-24 came to a close mid-afternoon on Friday, December 20, when the Michigan Senate finally adjourned after a record-setting session that lasted nearly 30 hours. In contrast, the House failed to get enough members in attendance to meet a single additional day during the final week of the legislative calendar after adjourning in disarray last week. The lack of session was despite action by Speaker Joe Tate to impose a Call…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
Almost 200 bills were reported out of committee in the Legislature this week…just sit with that a minute…ok, ready to move on, because we have miles to go before we sleep since that long list of bills includes…deep breath…SB 285 (mandatory kindergarten), SB 463 (FAFSA completion as a graduation requirement with various waivers), and HB 6255 (legislation to address lingering debt from the Detroit Public Schools takeover of a decade ago) which…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
NOTE: MASSP will be writing summary articles like this throughout lame duck, but we will be waiting to write more detailed analyses until we know which proposals become law. If you are looking for more information on a piece of legislation, we always link listed bill numbers to the Legislature webpage. You may also find additional details on some of these proposals in our 2024 Lame Duck Preview article. Lame duck has…
2024 Lame Duck Preview
With the election in the books, the Michigan Legislature returned to Lansing this week and dove headfirst into what could become a busy lame duck session. Both chambers seem determined, at least for now, to finish out the 2023-24 legislative session with a bang (all three remaining weeks of it…tick tock). The House and Senate Education Committees both met, though they were far from the only committees that had school-related legislation on…
October 2024 Legislative Recap
While the House has been out campaigning and on break, the Michigan Senate has kept the wheels turning, holding session one day per week throughout October. During this time, senators have been busy laying the groundwork for key legislative priorities set to take center stage during the upcoming lame duck session. From new vaping regulations to expanded student teacher stipends, stricter vaccination reporting, computer science education requirements, work permit changes, and teacher…
MPSERS Reforms Signed Into Law Marks Big Win for Students, Schools
Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed HB 5803 into law, making the changes to district MPSERS contribution rates and employee contribution reductions official, marking a significant win for Michigan’s public schools and educators. The new law will: Permanently reduce the contribution rate that traditional public school districts must pay into the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) by 5.75%, from 20.96% to 15.21%. Eliminate the 3% contribution to retiree health insurance for…
Updated Principal Contract Guide Now Available
In light of the recent Michigan Supreme Court decision in the case of Batista v. ORS, MASSP has updated our Building Administrator Contract Guide to reflect important changes that address how compensation is credited for retirement purposes under the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS). The decision affects both individual employment contracts and collectively bargained agreements and highlights the need for all Michigan school administrators to review and potentially revise their contracts and…