Public Act 351 of 2004

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• Introduced by Sen. Shirley Johnson (R) on March 3, 2004, to provide the “template” or “place holder” for a Senate Republican version of a Fiscal Year 2004-2005 school aid budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended at a later date to include them.
  • Referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 3, 2004.
    • Reported in the Senate on March 30, 2004.
  • Substitute offered in the Senate on March 31, 2004, to replace the executive proposal for this budget, contained in Senate Bill 1048, with a budget that expresses policy differences between the Republican-majority in the House and Governor Jennifer Granholm on certain spending items. See Senate-passed version for major features, and Senate Fiscal Agency analysis for detailed analysis. (the “Text and Analysis” at the top of this bill’s MichiganVotes.org page is a link to this). The substitute passed in the Senate by voice vote on March 31, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Deborah Cherry (D) on March 31, 2004, to increase funding for Intermediate School Districts, and for early childhood education programs. The amendment failed in the Senate (16 to 21) on March 31, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Michael Switalski (D) on March 31, 2004, to increase appropriations for extra payments to schools for at-risk students, and eliminate $5 million for a laptop computers for sixth-graders program. The amendment failed in the Senate (17 to 20) on March 31, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Sen. Martha G. Scott (D) on March 31, 2004, to add $15 million in extra money for the Detroit School District. Proponents of this spending, which is debated in every annual school aid budget, contend that the money was promised to Detroit as part of the 1999 state takeover of the city's school board. Opponents say there was no such promise, and that the $15 million that year was intended to be a one-time expenditure. The amendment failed in the Senate by voice vote on March 31, 2004.
• Passed in the Senate (31 to 6) on March 31, 2004, the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 school aid budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1048.) This appropriates $12.468 billion in gross spending (funded from all sources, including the school aid fund, the general fund, federal pass-through dollars, and more), compared to $12.604 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003, not including later “pro-rated” cuts to school districts. The budget sets a minimum per-pupil foundation grant of $6,700 per student, and does not include cuts recommended by the governor to “20j” grants to certain wealthy school districts, or her proposed revision to the pupil-count formula. It has less than the governor proposed for extra at-risk student funding, Intermediate School Districts (ISDs), early childhood programs, and vocational programs. Overall, however, the Senate version authorizes approximately $6.8 million more gross spending than the governor recommended. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on March 31, 2004.
  • Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on March 31, 2004.
  • Reported in the House on June 2, 2004, with the recommendation that the substitute (H-1) be adopted and that the bill then pass.
  • Substitute offered in the House on June 9, 2004. The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Tupac Hunter (D) on June 9, 2004, to require each charter school to give up 10 percent of its state funds, which would then be used by the Department of Education for increased oversight of the charter school. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Marsha Cheeks (D) on June 9, 2004, to remove a requirement that a particular extra funding provision for the Detroit school district be ended within 60 days if the city votes to eliminate the reform school board imposed by the state in 1999. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. John Moolenaar (R) on June 9, 2004, to revise the formula by which the state pays school districts for schooling pupils assigned by a court or the Family Independence Agency to reside in or to attend a juvenile detention facility or child caring institution within the school district. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. David Palsrok (R) on June 9, 2004, to exempt school districts with less than 500 students from any potential "pro-rated" budget cuts required to close a gap between previously expected state tax revenue and previously authorized spending. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Bruce Caswell (R) on June 9, 2004, to increase the minimum per-pupil state foundation grant from $6,700 to $6,750 per year. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Marsha Cheeks (D) on June 9, 2004, to provide an exception to the law that requires schools to provide a minimum of 180 days of instruction each year, if a school loses up to 30 hours of instruction time because of a failure in power, water or sewer service. In the weeks before this vote many Detroit schools were forced to close for a day or more because the city-owned utility failed to deliver electric power. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Howard Walker (R) on June 9, 2004, to cut $53.8 million in supplementary “20j” grants to certain wealthy or small school districts to compensate them for a loss of local funding that resulted from the 1994 Proposal A school finance and property tax limitation initiative. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Bruce Caswell (R) and Rep. MaryAnn Middaugh (R) on June 9, 2004, to strip out a provision that grants more school aid money to two school districts that had operating millage proposals defeated in 1993. The amendment failed in the House (41 to 62) on June 9, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Tupac Hunter (D) on June 9, 2004. The amendment failed in the House (45 to 59) on June 9, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Sandy Caul (R) on June 9, 2004, to reduce a particular extra funding provision granted to the Detroit school district under the reform school board imposed by the state in 1999. The amendment passed in the House (57 to 45) on June 9, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk, Jr. (R) on June 9, 2004, to require school teen health centers to have an advisory committee on which at least one-third of the members are parents or legal guardians of school-aged children, and require the centers to recognize the role of parents in the physical and emotional well-being of the child. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on June 9, 2004.
  • Amendment offered by Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk, Jr. (R) on June 9, 2004, to strip out a provision that allows school districts to count up to 51 hours of professional development for teachers, including the 5 hours online from the Michigan virtual university as hours of pupil instruction. Current law requires a minimum of 180 days of instruction in schools as a condition of state funding, which is 1,098 hours. The amendment failed in the House (8 to 91) on June 9, 2004. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Passed in the House (91 to 13) on June 9, 2004, the House version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 school aid budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1048.) This appropriates $12.530 billion in gross spending (funded from all sources, including the school aid fund, the general fund, federal pass-through dollars, and more), compared to $12.604 billion, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003, not including later “pro-rated” cuts to school districts. The budget sets a minimum per-pupil foundation grant of $6,700 per student, and does not include cuts recommended by the governor to “20j” grants to certain wealthy school districts, or her proposed revision to the pupil-count formula. It has less than the governor proposed for Intermediate School Districts (ISDs), early childhood programs, and vocational programs. Overall, however the House version authorizes approximately $50 million more gross spending than the governor recommended, much of which would come from the Detroit casino tax increase proposed by House-passed version of House Bill 4612. . Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on June 10, 2004.
• Failed in the Senate (0 to 37) on June 15, 2004, to concur with a House-passed version of the bill. The vote sends the bill to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the House on June 29, 2004.
• Passed in the House (99 to 8) on September 9, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 school aid budget. This appropriates $12.53 billion in gross spending (funded from all sources, including the school aid fund, the general fund, federal dollars, and more). The budget increases the minimum per-pupil foundation grant by $74 to $6,700 per student, and also gives this increase to so-called “section 20j” schools that get $9,000 or more per student. The bill includes a slight change in the pupil-count formula that benefits schools losing students at the expense of those with more students than the previous year. It reduces Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) operational funding fy $10.7 million from the current year’s $91.7 million, and gives an extra $15 million to the Detroit School District, as has been the practice since the 1999 state-imposed school board reform. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Received in the Senate on June 30, 2004.
• Passed in the Senate (32 to 2) on September 8, 2004, the House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 school aid budget. This appropriates $12.53 billion in gross spending (funded from all sources, including the school aid fund, the general fund, federal dollars, and more). The budget increases the minimum per-pupil foundation grant by $74 to $6,700 per student, and also gives this increase to so-called “section 20j” schools that get $9,000 or more per student. The bill includes a slight change in the pupil-count formula that benefits schools losing students at the expense of those with more students than the previous year. It reduces Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) operational funding fy $10.7 million from the current year’s $91.7 million, and gives an extra $15 million to the Detroit School District, as has been the practice since the 1999 state-imposed school board reform. [Vote Details and Comments]
• Signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on September 30, 2004.