Governor Snyder took his time reviewing SB 571, but in the end he placed his signature on the legislation that would
restrict public bodies from communicating with their residents 60 days before an election in which they have a question
on the ballot. In his message to the legislature, he called for the House and Senate to pass clarification legislation on this
issue. Public bodies are tasked with providing important and defined services to the residents. Open lines of
communication on ballot requests are important so residents fully understand the request. We will be actively working
with all of our West Michigan legislators to help them understand the unintended consequences of this policy change.
Legislative leaders have hinted that an alternative “fix” bill will move quickly, but the details contained within the fix are
incredibly important. It is our position that the fix to this issue involves striking that part of law entirely.
Rep. Garcia Introduces School Calendar Legislation
Next year the state of Michigan will require that students have 180 instructional days. This increase along with added in
interest in districts being able to start school prior to Labor Day has prompted Rep. Garcia to introduce House Bills 5193
and 5194. One of the bills seeks to codify the pre-Labor Day school start waiver criteria that is controlled by the
Michigan Department of Education. Right now the State Superintendent has the final approval authority of waiver
process requests. The legislation would require the State Superintendent issue the waiver if a district met one of the
outlined criteria in the bill. Also important to note, the State Superintendent will still retain the approval of waivers that
fall outside of the criteria outlined in the bill. The other bill will place the school calendar and schedule on the prohibited
subjects list for collective bargaining purposes. This means no longer will the administration have to negotiate over
school start and stop times and the calendar itself.
DPS not on Speaker Cotter’s Priority List
In an interview with the Detroit News, speaker Cotter spoke about the priorities for the Michigan House in 2016 and
interestingly enough Detroit Public Schools was not on the list. Instead the speaker keyed in on auto no-fault insurance
changes, energy policy and criminal justice reforms. These are certainly important issues, but it is telling that the leader
of the Michigan House is not eager to solve the Detroit Public Schools issue quite yet. That lack of urgency is likely why
the following day finance officials from DPS indicated they will be out of cash within four months without intervention.
This is not the first time that DPS has had cash flow problems. The issue is the continued borrowing – with state approval
– to solve short term cash flow issues. That past practice is what will cause operational debt payments to match payroll
and health benefits payments in February. This equates to $3,000 per pupil that will not be utilized for academic
programming and support services. You can read a comprehensive report on the finances of DPS put together by the
Citizens Research Council by clicking here.
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