PROGRAM TRANSFERS TO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
House Bills 6455-6458
Sponsor: Rep. Doug Hart
Committee: Education
Complete to 11-5-02
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILLS 6455 - 6458 AS INTRODUCED 9-24-02
House Bills 6455, 6456, 6457, and 6458 would amend various acts in order to transfer the authority for the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) to the Department of Education. Currently the program is administered by the Department of Treasury. The bills also would transfer authority for the Michigan Career Development Center, the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI), and the Commission on Asia in the Schools to the Department of Education. The bills are tie-barred so that none could become law unless the others also were enacted. A detailed explanation of each bill follows.
House Bill 6455 would amend Public Act 38 of 1970 (MCL 388.1081, 388.1082, and 388.1086), which is the original act that provided for assessments of educational progress, to require that the statewide assessment program cover all students annually in "at least two" grade levels in public schools. Currently the law requires that the program cover all students annually "at two grade levels." The bill also would delete a requirement that "the program shall expand the current basic skills testing inventory in grades 4 and 7 coordinated by the department."
House Bill 6456 would amend the Michigan Merit Award Scholarship Act (MCL 390.1459) to eliminate the Michigan Merit Award board's authority to promulgate rules governing the administration of assessment tests, and also rules addressing cheating on assessment tests.
House Bill 6457 would amend the Revised School Code (MCL 380.3, 380.1279, 380.1279c, 380.1481, and 380.1160) to require that the Michigan Commission on Asia in the Schools, as created in Executive Order No. 2002-4, be transferred to the Department of Education by a Type II transfer as described in section 3 of the Executive Organization Act of 1965. The bill also would eliminate an outdated section that allowed students who were tested during the 1996-97 school year to retake the tests the following school year. Finally, the bill would require the Department of Education to ensure that the MEAP tests were not used to measure students' values or attitudes. Currently this prohibition applies to the state board of education, and the board of each school district and public school academy.
House Bill 6458 would amend the State School Aid Act (MCL 388.1603 et al.) to transfer certain functions to the Department of Education. For all purposes specified in the act, "department" would mean the Department of Education. In particular, in section 67, which concerns career competency standards and assessments as well as other workforce development provisions, the bill would eliminate the current definition of "department" that refers to the Department of Career Development. Further and under the bill, the components of a regional career preparation plan would be required to include the role of the Department of Education, in
addition to other agencies currently specified under the law. (Currently the plan must include the roles of school districts, intermediate school districts, advanced career academies, postsecondary institutions, employers, labor representatives, and others in the career preparation system.) Further, school districts and consortia would report their number of full-time equated participants for adult education (the number upon which their payments for their alternative education programs are determined) to the Department of Education, rather than to the Department of Career Development, and the programs currently administered by that department would be administered instead by the Department of Education.
In addition, the bill specifies that there would be created within the Department of Education the Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). Currently that center is within the Office of the State Budget Director in the Department of Management and Budget. Under the bill, the responsibilities for the center that currently rest with the state budget director would become the responsibility of the superintendent of public instruction, and the appropriations for the center made to the Department of Management and Budget would be made instead to the Department of Education. The bill also would establish the contractual relationship between the Michigan Virtual University and the Department of Education regarding federal funds for improving teacher quality ($3,251,800), educational technology programs ($1,188,000), innovative strategies grants ($2,044,400), and rural and low income schools grants ($100,500).
In addition, the bill would eliminate references to the Michigan Assessment Governing Board and its authority for the state high school assessment, and instead vest the authority for that program with the Department of Education.
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.