FY 2015-16 SCHOOL AID BUDGET H.B. 4089 (CR-1): CONFERENCE REPORT
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$13,686,960,100 |
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Items Included by the Senate and House |
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1. MPSERS Rate Cap. Governor, Senate and House increased funding to pay for the State support of the local employer rate cap in the Michigan Public School Employees' Retirement System (MPSERS). Total funding for the rate cap in the K-12 budget is $893.5 million. |
216,600,000 |
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2. Federal Grants. Governor, Senate, and House reduced Federal grants by $32.4 million. |
(32,393,500) |
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3. School Bond Loan Fund Debt Service, Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), Promise Zones. Governor, Senate, and House included technical changes in obligation payments. |
(116,300) |
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4. MPSERS Additional Payment toward Liabilities. Governor, Senate, and House proposed eliminating an additional payment toward unfunded accrued liabilities. |
(19,634,500) |
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5. Technical Cost Adjustments. Governor, Senate, and House included technical adjustments for foundation allowances and special education due to newer estimates. |
(96,400,000) |
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6. Durant Bonds. Governor, Senate, and House eliminated funding for Durant non-plaintiff debt service, since FY 2014-15 was the last year of payments. |
(39,500,000) |
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7. Educator Evaluations. Governor, Senate, and House eliminated FY 2015-16 funding for educator evaluations, but added language for FY 2014-15 funding to be designated as a work project. |
(14,800,000) |
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8. Economic Adjustments. Includes ($98,200) Gross and ($68,300) GF/GP for OPEB and $33,300 Gross and $12,500 GF/GP for other economic adjustments. |
(64,900) |
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9. Other Changes. House and Senate funded Conductive Learning Center at $150,000. |
150,000 |
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Conference Agreement on Items of Difference |
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10. Foundation Allowance. Governor proposed a $75 across-the-board increase in the foundation allowance. Senate proposed an increase between $50 and $100 per pupil, using the '2x' formula. House rolled in numerous categoricals and provided between $137 and $274. Conference used the 2x formula and provided $70-$140, at a cost of $183.0 million. |
183,000,000 |
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11. At Risk. Conference included a $70.0 million increase in the At Risk program, and a $2.0 million increase for school-based health centers. |
72,000,000 |
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12. District Fiscal Emergency Contingency Fund. Governor proposed $75.0 million for this reserve fund (up from $4.0 million current year); Conference did not appropriate funding. |
(4,000,000) |
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13. Career and Technical Education (CTE). Conference included $10.0 million for career and technical education/dual enrollment, $3.0 million GF/GP for the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN), which was transferred into the budget from the Higher Education budget, and $600,000 GF/GP for a public awareness campaign and an online career planning tool. Conference increased the traditional CTE funding by $10.0 million. |
23,600,000 |
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14. Pupil Membership Blend. Conference changed the calculation for pupil memberships from 90% fall count/10% current-year spring count, to 90% fall/10% prior-year spring. |
9,700,000 |
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15. Adult Education. Conference increased Adult Education funding to a total of $25.0 million. |
3,000,000 |
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16. Early Literacy Initiatives. Conference included $17.5 million in grants to support additional instruction time for kindergarteners; a $2.5 million increase to expand home visits for parenting skills and early identification of children with additional needs; a $3.0 million investment in literacy coaches; a $2.6 million increase in assessments for grades K-2; and other early literacy funding totaling $5.9 million (of which $2.5 million is GF/GP). |
31,500,000 |
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17. Categorical Offset Payments. Conference included $12.0 million to ensure all districts receive at least a $25 per-pupil increase compared to last year when summing the per-pupil changes in the foundation allowance, at risk, best practices, and pupil performance. |
12,000,000 |
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18. Computer Adaptive Test and Financial Data Analysis Tools. Conference provided reimbursement to districts that purchase a computer adaptive test ($4.0 million), and reimbursement to districts to purchase a financial data analysis tool ($1.5 million). |
5,500,000 |
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19. Consolidation, Transportation Funding, Civics Education, Albion/Marshall, STEM. Conference increased consolidation grants $3.0 million, grants for transportation $2.4 million, and provided $300,000 to Marshall/Albion, and $60,000 for Civics Education. STEM-related programs were funded at $550,000 above current-year levels, and Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) was funded at $340,000. |
6,585,400 |
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20. Gang Prevention and Intervention. Governor proposed $1.0 million program to provide grants for gang prevention. Senate and House did not include; Conference funded. |
1,000,000 |
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21. Michigan Virtual University (MVU). Governor proposed a $600,000 GF/GP increase for MVU to include community college courses in the course catalog and for a network of school-based mentors for online learning. Conference did not include the increased funding. |
0 |
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22. Pupil Performance, Best Practices, and Technology Grants. Conference eliminated funding for pupil performance grants ($51.1 million) and best practices ($75.0 million), and reduced technology infrastructure grants by $18.0 million. |
(144,100,000) |
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23. Other Program Eliminations. Conference eliminated bus conversion grants ($3.0 million) and a career readiness study ($250,000). |
(3,250,000) |
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24. Other Program Reductions. Conference removed vocational education earmark ($1.0 million), and a payment for consolidated Intermediate School Districts ($7,000). |
(1,007,000) |
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$209,369,200 |
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FY 2015-16 Conference Report Ongoing/One-Time Gross Appropriation............................. |
$13,896,329,300 |
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Amount Over/(Under) GF/GP Target: $0 |
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Boilerplate Changes from FY 2014-15 Year-to-Date: |
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Items Included by the Senate and House |
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1. ISD Best Practices. Governor deleted two current best practices and changed the eligibility to meeting all remaining four best practices. Senate and House eliminated ISD best practices and rolled funding into the base. (Sec. 81) |
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2. Michigan Virtual University. Governor, Senate, and House added a requirement that MVU create a statewide network of school-based mentors to help more students be successful online learners. Also, MVU must include online courses offered by community college in the statewide catalog of online learning, and language was added capping the amount of funding that MVU can use to subsidize the cost paid by districts for online courses at $1.0 million. (Sec. 98) |
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Conference Agreement on Items of Difference |
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3. Blend Change. Senate changed the pupil membership blend, to use the prior-year spring count (15%) instead of the current-year spring, to blend with current-year fall (85%). Conference included, at 90/10 weighting. (Sec. 6) |
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4. Foundation Allowance. Governor proposed a $75 across-the-board increase. Senate proposed using '2x' formula with increases ranging between $50 and $100. House rolled in numerous categoricals and provided increases ranging between $137 and $274. Conference provided increases ranging between $70 and $140 per pupil. (Sec. 20) |
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5. Online Learning. Governor, Senate, and House added community colleges to the section allowing for dual enrollment in online courses, and added clarifying language that the primary district (instead of educating) is responsible for the program. Governor reduced payment from 8.33% of minimum foundation allowance to 6.66%; Senate used 6.67%; House did not reduce the payment; Conference concurred with Senate. (Sec. 21f) |
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6. Best Practices. Governor and Senate reduced the maximum per-pupil grant from $50 to $20, and changed the eligibility from meeting seven out of the current eight, to meeting both financial best practices and academic best practices. House eliminated; Conference concurred with House to eliminate. (Sec. 22f) |
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7. Technology Readiness Grants. Senate earmarked the funding into specific areas to focus the distributions, and added non-compete language. House did not fund. Conference concurred with Senate. (Sec. 22i) |
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8. Enrollments from Out-of-State. Senate and Conference added a requirement for CEPI to investigate the number of children newly enrolling in Michigan between the fall and spring count days. (Sec. 25e) |
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9. Strict Discipline Academies. Senate restructured this to be an added cost reimbursement. Conference concurred, and broke out funding for dropout recovery into a new section, with each section at $1.0 million. (Sec. 25f, 25g) |
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10. At-Risk. House and Conference required districts to employ a multi-tier system of supports in at least grades K to 3 in order to qualify for any at-risk funding. Senate and Conference broadened eligibility related to assessments and reduced price lunch qualifications. (Sec. 31a) |
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11. School Readiness. Senate added language allowing eligible three-year-olds to be funded if a four-year-old class would have had to return slot funding due to insufficient class size; Conference did not include. Conference concurred with House to change administrative caps, but changed the cap to 4% for an ISD and 4% for a subrecipient. Conference further allowed a higher transportation reimbursement than current law. (Sec. 32d) |
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12. Early Literacy. Governor added a new section stating that the increased funds will be used to ensure children are reading at grade level by the end of third grade, and so that Michigan will be in the top 10 most improved states in fourth grade reading proficiency as measured by the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and in the top 10 states overall by 2025. Senate and Conference concurred and further required the Superintendent to identify all staff hired under the early literacy section to be designated as critical shortage. (Sec. 35, 35a.) |
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13. Parent University. Governor, Senate, and Conference added a new section outlining a pilot of a parent education program for parents of children less than four years old so that children are ready to succeed at school entry. Grants would be the lesser of $130,000 or $120 per four-year-old in the district or consortium. (Sec. 35a(2)) |
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14. Professional Development Related to Current State Literacy Standards. Governor, Senate, and Conference added a new section providing funding for professional development with the Department determining the level of grant awards and collaborating with MVU to provide the training online to educators of pupils in grades K-3. (Sec. 35a(3)) |
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15. Other Early Literacy Sections. Governor added five additional sections related to early literacy, including adoption of a certification test for newly certified elementary teachers (Sec. 35c); diagnostic tools to monitor the development of early literacy and reading skills of pupils in grades K-3 (Sec. 35d); early literacy coaches (Sec. 35e); grants for providing additional instructional time to pupils in grades K-3 that have been identified as needing additional support (Sec. 35f); and, establishing a clearinghouse of best practices (Sec. 35g). Senate did not include Sections 35c or 35g, but did require the Department of Education to complete these tasks under boilerplate in the Department budget bill. Conference included the certification test (Sec. 35a(8)), diagnostic tools (Sec. 35a(4)), early literacy coaches with a formula change (Sec. 35a(5)), and $17.5 million for additional instructional time (Sec. 35a(6)), with grants of $165 per first grade pupil. |
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16. Reallocation of Lapsing Special Education Money. Governor proposed eliminating a provision that distributes money that otherwise would lapse under special education to districts or intermediate school districts affected by changes related to the costs of itinerant staff. Senate did not concur and retained the language. Conference retained language but added a $2.0 million cap per reimbursed district or ISD. (Sec. 51a(7)(c)) |
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17. Career and Technical Education (CTE)/Adult Education. Senate allowed CTE programs to enroll Adult Education participants, and allowed for the billing of general ed. course costs to Adult Education providers. Further, Senate added language prioritizing reimbursement based on capital and program expenditures, and other items. Finally, Senate halted the planned phase-out of funding based on prior providers, included a $500,000 pilot program linking CTE, Adult Education, and Michigan Works!, and returned funding to 90% enrollment, 10% completion. Conference allowed CTE to enroll Adult Ed outside of regular school hours, and concurred in re-prioritizing, along with the pilot program, and an 80%/20% payment formula. The continued planned phase-out was halted for one year. (Sec. 61a and 107) |
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18. CTE Early/Middle College Programs. Governor, Senate, and Conference added early/middle college programs (five-year programs) designed to increase the number of residents with high quality degrees or credentials, and to increase the number of students who are college- and career-ready upon high school graduation, for programs that have been identified in the highest five career cluster rankings, allowing for a student to earn a high school diploma and achieve either a certificate, associate's degree, apprenticeship, or transferable credits. (Sec. 61b) |
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19. Dual Enrollment Reimbursement. Senate and Conference added a requirement for districts seeking reimbursement to ensure that college credit awarded is accepted at any Michigan community college or university. (Sec. 64b) |
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20. Educator Evaluations. Governor, Senate, and House struck language prohibiting the use of these funds unless House Bills 5223 and 5224 of the previous legislative session were enacted. Senate reduced current-year funding to $1.0 million. Conference restored current-year funding to $14.8 million. (Sec. 95a) |
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21. STEM Council. Conference concurred with the House to include new language for a STEM advisory council to be appointed by the Governor to review science, technology, and math programs around the State. (Sec. 99s) |
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22. Snow Days. Conference concurred with House to reduce from 6 to 3 the number of snow days that the Superintendent may grant (in addition to the automatic six), but allowed those to occur any time during the year. (Sec. 101) |
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23. Deficit Districts. Governor and Senate included numerous changes related to deficit elimination plans and enhanced deficit elimination plans, reflective of "early warning" legislation from the previous legislative session. House and Conference did not include. (Sec. 102) |
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24. Transmittal of Budgetary Assumptions. Governor and Senate included a new section for transmitting budgetary assumptions, reflective of "early warning" legislation that was deliberated in the previous legislative session. House and Conference did not include. |
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25. Early Warning. Governor and Senate included several new section requiring a notification of fiscal stress, deficit, or financial emergency and a request for assistance, reflective of "early warning" legislation. Other sections also required periodic financial status reporting. House and Conference did not include. |
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26. Periodic Financial Status Reports. Governor and Senate included a new section requiring a district to submit periodic financial status reports if the Superintendent or State Treasurer determine that financial stress may exist, that a deficit is projected to arise, or that the district may be unable to meet its financial obligations, reflective of "early warning" legislation that was deliberated in the previous legislative session. House and Conference did not include. |
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27. M-STEP. Governor, Senate, and Conference added grade 11 to the summative assessments for English Language Arts (ELA) and math (currently grades 3-10), and added language requiring the Department to field test additional components (fall and spring assessments to measure ELA and math in grades 1 and 2, and kindergarten entry assessment) in the assessment system beginning in FY 2015-16 for full implementation in FY 2016-17. (Sec. 104c) |
Date Completed: 6-1-15 Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations.