An act to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled “An act to provide a system of public instruction and elementary and secondary schools; to revise, consolidate, and clarify the laws relating to elementary and secondary education; to provide for the organization, regulation, and maintenance of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to prescribe rights, powers, duties, and privileges of schools, school districts, public school academies, intermediate school districts, and other public school entities; to provide for the regulation of school teachers and certain other school employees; to provide for school elections and to prescribe powers and duties with respect thereto; to provide for the levy and collection of taxes; to provide for the borrowing of money and issuance of bonds and other evidences of indebtedness; to establish a fund and provide for expenditures from that fund; to make appropriations for certain purposes; to provide for and prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, the state board of education, and certain other boards and officials; to provide for licensure of boarding schools; to prescribe penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending sections 392, 502, 503, 507, 522, 528, 552, and 561 (MCL 380.392, 380.502, 380.503, 380.507, 380.522, 380.528, 380.552, and 380.561), as amended by 2018 PA 601; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.
Repeals section 1280g (MCL 380.1280g) of the revised school code which includes provisions for holding schools accountable for academic performance. Section 1280g includes the A-F school ranking system known as Michigan School Grades. Michigan School Grades is a standardized system that uses several performance indicators to assess a school’s progress each year. A letter grade is assigned to the school based on its annual performance and reported on the Michigan Department of Education’s website. The purpose of the letter grade system is to report a school’s progress in a manner that is simple and easily understood by the public.
Section 1280g also includes provisions for identifying underperforming schools to be targeted for improvement and monitoring. As part of the improvement process, accountability measures must be developed and implemented for the lowest achieving schools. Charter schools that receive a failing grade for three years in a row are subject to closure based on this provision. In addition, it includes provisions for recognizing schools that are consistently among the highest achieving schools in the state. Removing section 1280g would eliminate a transparent, consistent and reliable system of school accountability and decrease incentives for schools to improve or maintain their level of performance.
Co-sponsored by Reps.
Referred to the Committee on Education
Reported with substitute H-1
Substitute H-1 concurred in by voice vote
1. Amend page 55, following line 8, by inserting:
“Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect unless House Bill No. 4043 of the 102nd Legislature is enacted into law.”.
The amendment failed by voice vote
Passed in the House 63 to 45 (details)
Motion to give immediate effect
by
The motion prevailed by voice vote
Referred to the Committee on Education
Reported without amendment
Referred to the Committee of the Whole
Reported without amendment
1.
Amend page 55, following line 6, by inserting:
“Sec. 1280h. The department shall develop a statewide accountability measurement that assigns a letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F to each public school based on the federal accountability requirements as provided under the every student succeeds act, Public Law 114-95.”.
The amendment failed 18 to 20 (details)
Passed in the Senate 20 to 18 (details)
