December 10, 2003, Introduced by Senators BROWN, GILBERT and PRUSI and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
A bill to amend 1979 PA 94, entitled
"The state school aid act of 1979,"
by amending section 32j (MCL 388.1632j), as added by 2003 PA
158.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 32j. (1) From the appropriation in section 11, there
2 is allocated an amount not to exceed $3,326,000.00 for 2003-2004
3 for grants to intermediate districts to provide programs for
4 parents with preschool children. The purpose of these programs
5 is to improve school readiness and foster the maintenance of
6 stable families by encouraging positive parenting skills.
7 (2) To qualify for funding under this section, a program
8 shall provide services to all families with children age 5 or
9 younger residing within the intermediate district who choose to
10 participate, including at least all of the following services:
1 (a) Providing parents with information on child development
2 from birth to age 5.
3 (b) Providing parents with methods to enhance parent-child
4 interaction; including, but not limited to, encouraging parents
5 to read to their preschool children at least 1/2 hour per day.
6 (c) Providing parents with examples of learning opportunities
7 to promote intellectual, physical, and social growth of
8 preschoolers.
9 (d) Promoting access to needed community services through a
10 community-school-home partnership.
11 (3) To compete for a grant under this section, an
12 intermediate district shall apply to the department not later
13 than October 1, 2003 in the form and manner prescribed by the
14 department. To be considered for a grant under this section, a
15 grant application shall do all of the following in a manner
16 prescribed by the department:
17 (a) Provide a plan for the delivery of the program components
18 described in subsection (2).
19 (b) Demonstrate an adequate collaboration of local entities
20 involved in providing programs and services for preschool
21 children and their parents.
22 (c) Provide a projected budget for the program to be funded.
23 The intermediate district shall provide at least a 20% local
24 match from local public or private resources for the funds
25 received under this section. Not more than 1/2 of this matching
26 requirement, up to a total of 10% of the total project budget,
27 may be satisfied through in-kind services provided by
1 participating providers of programs or services. In addition,
2 not more than 10% of the grant may be used for program
3 administration.
4 (4) Each successful grant recipient of a grant under this
5 section shall agree to
include a data collection system and an
6 evaluation tool approved by the department. to measure the
7 impact of the program
on improving school readiness and fostering
8 the maintenance of
stable families. The data collection
system
9 shall provide a report by October 15 of each year on the number
10 of children in families with income below 200% of the federal
11 poverty level that received services under this program and the
12 total number of children who received services under this
13 program.
14 (5) The department or superintendent, as applicable, shall do
15 all of the following:
16 (a) The department shall make applications available for the
17 purposes of this section not later than August 15, 2003.
18 (b) The superintendent shall approve or disapprove
19 applications and notify the applying intermediate district of
20 that decision not later than November 15, 2003. The amount of
21 each approved grant shall not exceed 3.5% of the intermediate
22 district's 2002-2003 payment under section 81.
23 (c) The department shall ensure that all programs funded
24 under this section utilize the most current validated
25 research-based methods and curriculum for providing the program
26 components described in subsection (2).
27 (d) The department shall submit a report to the state budget
1 director and the senate
and house fiscal agencies detailing the
2 evaluations summarizing the data collection reports
described in
3 subsection (4) by December 1 of each year.
4 (6) An intermediate district receiving funds under this
5 section shall use the funds only for the program funded under
6 this section. An intermediate district receiving funds under
7 this section may carry over any unexpended funds received under
8 this section to subsequent fiscal years and may expend those
9 unused funds in subsequent fiscal years.