In this weekly update:

• House Freshmen Charged with Balancing K-12 Budget
• Senate Appropriations Urges 20j Veto Override
• Miller Introduces School District Consolidation Commission Bill
• Board Of Education "Encourages" Restoration Of School Aid Cuts
• Stimulus Appropriations Bill Expected Next Tuesday
• MSP Reinstates School Bus Inspection Program

House Freshmen Charged with Balancing K-12 Budget

The 44 member House Freshmen Caucus was charged with proposing a solution to the short and long term K-12 education funding issues facing Michigan schools. The charge was issued by House Speaker Andy Dillon in response to a letter sent by that caucus to the Governor and legislative leaders in both chambers in which they chastised the leadership group for failing to resolve the budget before now. The challenged was issued to Representatives Lesia Liss (D-Warren) and Bill Rogers (R-Brighton), the leaders of the caucus and two of the most outspoken members of that group.

ACTION: We will be meeting with both representatives next week to make sure that our message is part of the discussion as these lawmakers consider solutions to the budget situation. Continue to communicate our three part message to your legislators, freshmen or not: fulfill your promise and raise the $100 million in new revenue on which you balanced the budget; use the remaining stimulus money to fill any additional shortfalls and prevent a mid-year proration; fix the long term structural deficit in school funding.

Senate Appropriations Urges 20j Veto Override

On Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a resolution urging a veto override of cuts to 39 schools, but the panel took a pass on finding revenues to backfill the resulting $52 million budget hole. Since the K-12 budget was a House bill (HB 4447), the lower chamber would have to take up an override vote first. So SR 88 urges the House to do so. The committee heard from a slew of school officials on the cut to the "20j" funding, but cut off testimony after about 45 minutes to take a vote on SR 88 sponsored by Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy), who has five affected school districts in his Senate district. Right after the vote, Sen. Mickey Switalski (D-Roseville), the committee's ranking Democratic member, asked for SB 0310 to be taken up. It's a shell bill of his for school aid money and he said that Appropriations could go ahead and fund the 20j schools with it. Action was postponed on a procedural motion and the committee adjourned without further voting.

Miller Introduces School District Consolidation Commission Bill

On Wednesday, Rep. Fred Miller (D-Mt. Clemens) introduced HB 5561 which would create the "School District Modernization Advisory Commission" and charges the 15-member group with reviewing "current school district boundaries to identify instances where consolidation of two or more school districts . . . would likely result in significant cost savings without negative educational impact." The idea is patterned after the federal government's military base closure panel. Lawmakers, much like the base closing strategy, would have an up-or-down vote on the entire recommendations, without changes. The committee members would come from recommendations of legislative leaders, teachers unions, school boards and school administrators. They would join with two school parents and three members of the public in tackling the challenging task. The commissioners would serve without compensation and the first session would be called by the state School Superintendent.

ACTION: MASA and MAISA have been aware of the potential for this legislation and have been monitoring this issue for some time. While this is the first time that a bill has been introduced, the concept is not new. This is the latest in a series of measures brought up recently dealing with consolidation of services and school districts. As reported in the MASA/MAISA weekly update from Oct 23, the report of the Legislative Commission on Government Efficiency contained recommendations for the forced consolidation of school districts. This is in addition to the language contained in the FY 2009-10 School Aid budget. MASA and MAISA remain opposed to any legislation that forces school district consolidation. With your help, we will continue to communicate to legislators that forced district consolidation has the potential to negatively impact academic achievement. We will continue to monitor this legislation as it moves forward.

Board Of Education "Encourages" Restoration Of School Aid Cuts

Though not specific on amounts, the State Board of Education called Monday for the Legislature and Governor Jennifer Granholm to find the revenue to restore some of the money cut from the School Aid Fund budget in the fight between the two sides. The resolution states, "The State Board of Education encourages the Governor and legislature to immediately find the revenues necessary to reduce the cuts to the educational budget to meet their Constitutional responsibility." The board unanimously adopted the resolution that also calls on school districts to work with the board and the Department of Education to further consolidate services and offers their services to reach a long-term solution to education funding. The resolution was approved after presentations calling for the state to revise its tax system to better match the state's emerging economy. Patrick Anderson of Anderson Economic Group, Lou Glazer with Michigan's Future and Phil Power with the Center for Michigan all called for changes including reduced business taxes and sales taxes on retail services at lower than the current 6 percent rate. The board moved its November meeting up two weeks to be a part of the discussion over school funding for schools.

Stimulus Appropriations Bill Expected Next Tuesday

Rumor and supposition were abundant at the Capitol on Thursday when the House was supposedly going to take up a budget supplemental to appropriate an indeterminate amount of the remaining education stimulus money. No legislation was ever produced and, as session wound to a close, the common wisdom was that the House was delaying the proposal until next Tuesday. Details are nonexistent as no formal proposal yet exists, but a partial restoration of the foundation allowance, a partial restoration of ISD and RESA funding, and a full or partial restoration of section 20j funding are all possibilities if a bill surfaces. One possible vehicle is HB 5565, introduced on Thursday by Rep. Marc Corriveau (D-Northville) which is a shell bill to restore 20j funding but without any identified revenue source.

ACTION: Given the high level of supposition and lack of specifics, it is likely that any proposal to appropriate stimulus money is more posturing than action. Do not expect this bill, if indeed it surfaces next Tuesday, to solve any problems. Regardless of House action, we must continue to tell lawmakers that they do indeed need to spend the remaining stimulus money by November 20 to prevent a mid-year proration to schools.

MSP Reinstates School Bus Inspection Program

On Friday, MASA/MAISA was able to confirm with the Department of State Police that they are reinstating their school bus inspection program effective Monday, November 2. This action comes on the heels of a joint press release issued by MASA and MAISA calling on Governor Granholm to order MSP to restore the program and fulfill their legal obligation. The full release is available online by clicking here.

ACTION: This decision by MSP should resolve the situation. If you have ANY problems with getting your busses inspected or scheduling future bus inspections, PLEASE CONTACT BOB KEFGEN at rkefgen@gomasa.org. We will continue to follow the inspection program as it moves forward and we will keep you appraised of any problems.

If you have any additional questions or comments please contact us rkefgen@gomasa.org or bbiladeau@gomasa.org.

Thanks.

Bob and Brad

Brad Biladeau
Associate Executive Director Government Relations
Michigan Association of School Administrators
Office: (517)327-9265
Cell: (517)281-5733
Fax: (517)327-0779
bbiladeau@gomasa.org
Twitter: twitter.com/MASA_GOV