- Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference Sets Up Final Budget Push
- Education Groups Join Together to Push for MPSERS Reinvestment
- House Education Approves Teacher Tenure Fix
- Safe Storage Information Bills Adopted
- Special Education Alternative Certification Extension Sent to Governor
Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference Sets Up Final Budget Push
The Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference met this morning to unveil its revenue estimates for this fiscal year and beyond. The Conference is made up of the House and Senate Fiscal Agencies and the Department of Treasury, who together determine the numbers upon which to base the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget after hearing multiple presentations about the economy, revenues, and economic indicators.
The Conference showed an overall increase over the previous conference in January. However, the increase was only in the General Fund, with the School Aid Fund seeing a slight decrease. The General Fund is expected to be up almost 5% for the next fiscal year over what was projected in January.
The School Aid Fund revenues are coming in about $160 million less than expected in January for this fiscal year. Looking to the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year, the fund will start with approximately $426.7 million and see a 2% increase from 2023-2024. But again, it will be $160 million less than projected in January.
The Legislature and Governor will now establish the target budget numbers and start working toward a final product. Rumor has it they want to have it done by June 13, but that is always a moving target. We continue to push for the school budget to be done as early as possible, but no later than the end of June.
Education Groups Join Together to Push for MPSERS Reinvestment
As mentioned last week, MASB has been pushing for a 7% reduction in the MPSERS rate to reflect the amount that is paid into the health care benefits side of MPSERS, which is now fully funded. This reduction, from 20.96% to 13.96%, would create significant cost savings for Michigan’s public schools without harming the MPSERS system.
This week, we joined with 12 other education organizations, including the MEA and AFT, in a formal request to the legislature and Governor to use the savings from paying off the unfunded healthcare liabilities to reinvest in the system. The letter was sent to the Governor’s Office, State Board of Education, State Budget Office and all members of the House and Senate.
Lowering the rate by 7% would create an average savings of more than $450 per pupil. This financial relief is crucial, especially now that federal ESSER funds are expiring. The savings generated would guarantee the continuity of programs and services for our students and support for our staff.
Your advocacy is crucial as the budgets head into final discussions. We urge you to contact your legislators and tell them to use the $670 million to invest back into the MPSERS system. This money should be reinvested with the districts that have borne the cost of the unfunded liabilities through the years and not spread throughout other programs in the budget. Share with your legislators what a 7% cut in your MPSERS liability would mean to your district as the funds are freed up to be spent on learning instead of retirement.
House Education Approves Teacher Tenure Fix
On Tuesday, the House Education Committee approved Senate Bill 744, which makes a change to the teacher tenure law related to evaluations that was inadvertently affected when the evaluation law was passed in the fall. Because of oversights in the new law, the probationary time for some effective teachers could extend to as much as seven years. It also would allow a teacher rated less than effective in the most recent year to receive tenure. This bill would allow a teacher who received an effective rating before July 1, 2024, to count that rating towards their required three positive year-end performance evaluations. Additionally, the bill specifies that these ratings would not have to be consecutive, but the most recent one would have to be rated as effective.
SB744 is now before the full House for consideration and debate is expected next week. It is the goal of the bill sponsor to get it into law before the evaluation law changes go into effect in July.
Safe Storage Information Bills Adopted
The House Education Committee also approved House Bills 5450-5451, which would require information on the new laws regarding the safe storage of firearms be provided to all parents annually. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would create the document and districts would be required to share it by October 1 of each year, beginning in 2025.
The bills were adopted on a party-line vote and are now before the full House for consideration.
Special Education Alternative Certification Extension Sent to Governor
This week, Senate Bill 518, which extends to 2027 the sunset on the provision to allow special education teachers to receive interim certificates, was sent to the Governor. The House and Senate both previously passed the bill by unanimous votes. This alternative path has made it easier for schools to employ special education teachers. MASB supports this bill as a way to address the shortage and support the teacher recruitment challenges rural districts are facing. We expect the Governor to approve it and extend the sunset.