• House Committee Considers Changes to Teacher and Administrator Evaluations
• Senate Education Approves Requiring FASFA Completion as a Graduation Requirement
• House Labor Committee Approves Bill Requiring Personal Information Disclosure 
• Senate Committee Considers Changing New Hire Retirement System Default
• House Passes Mandated Dental Exams for School Enrollment 

House Committee Considers Changes to Teacher and Administrator Evaluations

On Wednesday, the House Education Committee began hearings on Senate Bill 395. This bill would make changes to the teacher and administrator evaluation law. The bill would remove the 40% growth based on the M-STEP, change the ratings from four levels to three: effective, developing and needing support, and allow a teacher that receives three effective ratings in a row to be evaluated every other or third year. Additionally, the bill adds due process procedures for reviews of teachers and administrators rated as needing support.

The committee adopted changes to the bill to require student growth to be included as 20% of the evaluation. This was something MASB requested, as well as the Governor and Department of Education.

Further hearings are expected next week, with the goal of final passage by the beginning of November.

Senate Education Approves Requiring FASFA Completion as a Graduation Requirement

On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee approved Senate Bill 463 which mandates completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) as a graduation requirement. This would put the final determination of graduation out of a student’s hands, as the FAFSA application requires information and participation from the student’s parent or guardian. 

While we agree that the FAFSA is an important tool for college-bound students, MASB opposes this requirement.  Current incentive programs and the Mi Achievement Scholarship should be allowed to continue for a few years to see if Michigan’s FAFSA completion rate continues to rise before we look at a new state mandate that has the very real potential of creating negative consequences for students.

SB463 now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

House Labor Committee Approves Bill Requiring Personal Information Disclosure 

The House Labor Committee approved Senate Bill 169 on Thursday with no further testimony. This bill requires a public employer to share the personal information of a new employee including personal email, address, phone, wages and other information with the union bargaining unit. MASB understands that unions representing these employees need to be able to know who they are, but we oppose the bill as an unwarranted invasion of privacy and had suggested instead to allow employees to sign off on sharing the information.

During debate in committee, amendments were offered to limit the information an employer would share and to have a public employee consent to share the information with a union. Both amendments failed on party-line votes.

No changes were made to the bill, and it is now before the full House for consideration.

Senate Committee Considers Changing New Hire Retirement System Default  

On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee began hearings on House Bill 5021 which would amend the Public School Employees Retirement Act to set the default retirement plan to Tier 1, the pension hybrid plan. A new hire to a school district is required to choose a retirement plan within 75 days of their hire date. Currently, if the teacher has not selected a plan within that window, they default to a 401k, or the Tier 2 elective. 

MASB supports the bill and further hearings are expected next week.

House Passes Mandated Dental Exams for School Enrollment 

The House passed Senate Bill 280 this week by a vote of 85-24.  This bill requires dental assessment before enrolling in school for the first time. The exam would have to occur within six months of the child’s registration or first day of school. However, if a parent does not comply, the child cannot be held out of school. If the child is missing the assessment, a notification must be sent to the parent and the parent must sign a form saying they will do it or that they are exempt due to personal religious beliefs. 

The current requirement for the exam expires on January 1, 2024, the bill would remove that date as well. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would also expand the Oral Health Assessment program across all local health departments to assist families in receiving the exams.  

The bill will now go to the Governor for her consideration and approval.