SB-0787, As Passed Senate, November 6, 2003                                 

SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILL NO. 787

                                                                             A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled                                             

"The revised school code,"                                                  

by amending section 1280 (MCL 380.1280), as amended by 1997 PA              

180.                                                                        

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

1       Sec. 1280.  (1) The board of a school district that does not                

2   want to be subject to the measures described in this section                

3   shall ensure that each public school within the school district             

4   is accredited.                                                              

5       (2) As used in subsection (1), and subject to subsection (6),               

6   "accredited" means certified by the  state board superintendent            

7   of public instruction as having met or exceeded  state                      

8   board-approved  standards established under this section for 6              

9   areas of school operation:  administration and school                       

10  organization, curricula, staff, school plant and facilities,                

1   school and community relations, and school improvement plans and            

2   student performance.  The building-level evaluation used in the             

3   accreditation process shall include, but is not limited to,                 

4   school data collection, self-study, visitation and validation,              

5   determination of performance data to be used, and the development           

6   of a school improvement plan.                                               

7       (3) The department shall develop and distribute to all public               

8   schools proposed accreditation standards.  Upon distribution of             

9   the proposed standards, the department shall hold statewide                 

10  public hearings for the purpose of receiving testimony concerning           

11  the standards.  After a review of the testimony, the department             

12  shall revise and submit the proposed standards to the  state                

13  board superintendent of public instruction.  After a review and            

14  revision, if appropriate, of the proposed standards, the  state             

15  board superintendent of public instruction shall submit the                

16  proposed standards to the senate and house committees that have             

17  the responsibility for education legislation.  Upon approval by             

18  these committees, the department shall distribute to all public             

19  schools the standards to be applied to each school for                      

20  accreditation purposes.                                                     

21      (4) The  department superintendent of public instruction

22  shall develop and distribute to all public schools standards for            

23  determining that a school is eligible for summary accreditation             

24  under subsection (6).  The standards shall be developed,                    

25  reviewed, approved, and distributed using the same process as               

26  prescribed in subsection (3) for accreditation standards, and               

27  shall be finally distributed and implemented not later than                 

1   December 31, 1994.                                                          

2       (5) The standards for accreditation or summary accreditation                

3   under this section shall include pupil performance on Michigan              

4   education assessment program (MEAP) tests and the percentage of             

5   pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279 as                    

6   criteria, but shall not be based solely on pupil performance on             

7   MEAP tests or on the percentage of pupils achieving state                   

8   endorsement under section 1279.  The standards shall also include           

9   multiple year change in pupil performance on MEAP tests and                 

10  multiple year change in the percentage of pupils achieving state            

11  endorsement under section 1279 as criteria.  If it is necessary             

12  for the  state board superintendent of public instruction to               

13  revise accreditation or summary accreditation standards                     

14  established under subsection (3) or (4) to comply with this                 

15  subsection, the revised standards shall be developed, reviewed,             

16  approved, and distributed using the same process as prescribed in           

17  subsection (3).                                                             

18      (6) If the  department superintendent of public instruction

19  determines that a public school has met the standards established           

20  under subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation, the school           

21  is considered to be accredited without the necessity for a full             

22  building-level evaluation under subsection (2).                             

23      (7) If the  department superintendent of public instruction

24  determines that a school has not met the standards established              

25  under subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation but that              

26  the school is making progress toward meeting those standards, or            

27  if, based on a full building-level evaluation under subsection              

1   (2), the  department superintendent of public instruction

2   determines that a school has not met the standards for                      

3   accreditation but is making progress toward meeting those                   

4   standards, the school is in interim status and is subject to a              

5   full building-level evaluation as provided in this section.                 

6       (8) If a school has not met the standards established under                 

7   subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation and is not                  

8   eligible for interim status under subsection (7), the school is             

9   unaccredited and subject to the measures provided in this                   

10  section.                                                                    

11  (9) If all or some of a public school's answer sheets from                  

12  the administration of the Michigan educational assessment program           

13  (MEAP) tests are lost by the department or by a state contractor            

14  and if the public school can verify that the answer sheets were             

15  collected from pupils and forwarded to the department or the                

16  contractor, the department shall not assign an accreditation                

17  score or school report card grade to the public school for that             

18  subject area for the corresponding year for the purposes of                 

19  determining state accreditation under this section.  The                    

20  department shall not assign an accreditation score or school                

21  report card grade to the public school for that subject area                

22  until the results of all tests for the next year are available.             

23      (10) Subsection (9) does not preclude the department from                   

24  determining whether a public school or a school district has                

25  achieved adequate yearly progress for the purposes of the no                

26  child left behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, 115                      

27  Stat. 1425.  However, the department shall make every effort                

1   possible to ensure that a public school or the school district is           

2   not penalized when determining adequate yearly progress status              

3   due to the fact that the public school's MEAP answer sheets were            

4   lost by the department or by a state contractor.

5   (11)  (9)  The  department superintendent of public                        

6   instruction shall annually review and evaluate for accreditation            

7   purposes the performance of each school that is unaccredited and            

8   as many of the schools that are in interim status as permitted by           

9   the department's resources.                                                 

10  (12)  (10)  The  department superintendent of public                       

11  instruction shall, and the intermediate school district to which            

12  a school district is constituent, a consortium of intermediate              

13  school districts, or any combination thereof may, provide                   

14  technical assistance, as appropriate, to a school that is                   

15  unaccredited or that is in interim status upon request of the               

16  board of the school district in which the school is located.  If            

17  requests to the  department superintendent of public instruction

18  for technical assistance exceed the capacity, priority shall be             

19  given to unaccredited schools.                                              

20  (13)  (11)  A school that has been unaccredited for 3                       

21  consecutive years is subject to 1 or more of the following                  

22  measures, as determined by the superintendent of public                     

23  instruction:                                                                

24      (a) The superintendent of public instruction or his or her                  

25  designee shall appoint at the expense of the affected school                

26  district an administrator of the school until the school becomes            

27  accredited.                                                                 

1       (b) A parent, legal guardian, or person in loco parentis of a               

2   child who attends the school may send his or her child to any               

3   accredited public school with an appropriate grade level within             

4   the school district.                                                        

5       (c) The school, with the approval of the superintendent of                  

6   public instruction, shall align itself with an existing                     

7   research-based school improvement model or establish an                     

8   affiliation for providing assistance to the school with a college           

9   or university located in this state.                                        

10      (d) The school shall be closed.                                             

11  (14)  (12)  The  department superintendent of public                       

12  instruction shall evaluate the school accreditation program and             

13  the status of schools under this section and shall submit an                

14  annual report based upon the evaluation to the senate and house             

15  committees that have the responsibility for education                       

16  legislation.  The report shall address the reasons each                     

17  unaccredited school is not accredited and shall recommend                   

18  legislative action that will result in the accreditation of all             

19  public schools in this state.