- Education Groups Continue Push for MPSERS Reinvestment – Add Your Voice
- Teacher Tenure Fix Passes House
- House Passes Charter Transparency
- House Committee Approves Speed Detection Systems for School Zones
Education Groups Continue Push for MPSERS Reinvestment – Add Your Voice
As mentioned last week, MASB 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. We continue to have conversations with various legislators and staff involved in the appropriations process.
Our request is for a 7% reduction in the MPSERS rate to reflect the amount that is paid into the health care benefits side of MPSERS to pay down the liabilities, but this 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, averaging more than $450 per pupil.
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.
Teacher Tenure Fix Passes House
On Wednesday, the House passed Senate Bill 744 by a vote of 56-47. This bill amends the teacher tenure law related to evaluations, which was inadvertently affected when the evaluation law was passed in the fall. It would allow a teacher who received an effective rating before July 1, 2024 (the effective date of the new evaluation law), 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.
The bill now goes back to the Senate for final approval before sending it to the Governor.
House Passes Charter Transparency
The House also passed a package of bills aimed at greater transparency by charter school authorizers and educational management organizations. House Bills 5231-5234 would require certain information about the charter school’s authorizer and Education Management Organizations (EMO) to be printed on school signage and promotional materials. House Bill 5269 would require staff salary information to be included in the financial transparency portion of a charter school’s website.
All five bills passed on a 56-47 vote and now go to the Senate for consideration.
House Committee Approves Speed Detection Systems for School Zones
On Wednesday, the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee approved House Bill 4921 which would allow for speed detection systems to be placed in school zones. A local government would decide whether to install the system but would have to present its plan to the affected school district’s board of education before installation. The system would capture images of a vehicle going ten or more miles over the speed limit in a school zone and issue a ticket.
The bill now goes before the full House for consideration.