"RACE TO THE TOP" EDUCATION REFORMLegislative Analysis
Complete to 12-28-09
A PRELIMINARY SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILLS 4787, 4788 & 5596 AND SENATE
BILLS 926 & 981 AS ENROLLED
These bills embody what has been termed the "Race to the Top" legislation. Among the
key features, the legislation would:
-- Identify the lowest achieving five percent of public schools, place them under the
supervision of a state school reform/redesign officer, and then employ various
intervention models to improve student achievement in those schools.
-- Allow for the modification of collective bargaining agreements based on the model of
intervention chosen for low-achieving schools.
-- Create new charter schools referred to as "schools of excellence," as well as the
creation of "cyber schools" aimed at serving at-risk students online.
-- Raise the school-leaving age from 16 to 18, beginning with students who enter grade 6
after 2009.
-- Evaluate teachers and administrators based, in part, on student growth.
-- Provide for an alternative method of teacher certification.
-- Require the certification of school administrators.
-- Allow for some additional flexibility in the state-mandated high school curriculum.
The bills are tie-barred so that none can go into effect unless the others are also enacted
into law. A summary of each bill follows.
The bill also amends the Revised School Code (MCL 380.1278b et al.) to:
• Increase the school-leaving age from 16 to 18. This will begin with students
turning 11 after December 1, 2009, or who entered grade 6 after 2009. However,
the school-leaving age would remain at 16 for students whose parents provided
school officials with a written notice that their children had their permission to
stop attending school.
• Expand opportunities for a student to receive a personal curriculum modifying the
standard required high school curriculum. A teacher of that student or a school
counselor could request the personal curriculum (in addition to a parent). The
personal curriculum would be developed by a group that included a teacher who
taught the student and whose expertise was in the subject matter being modified.
The student must have completed (although need not have passed) at least 1 1/2
credits of mathematics before a curriculum could be modified. Previously 2 1/2
credits were required. (There is no requirement, however, that a school district
provide a student with a personal curriculum.)
• Provide for the identification of the lowest achieving 5 percent of public schools
and place them under the supervision of a state school reform/redesign officer.
This process would begin in 2010 and take place no later than September 1 of
each year.
• Require the governing body of those low-achieving schools to submit a redesign
plan to the reform/redesign officer within 90 days implementing one of four
school intervention models: the turnaround model, the restart model, the school
closure model, or the transformation model. The plan must be drafted in
consultation with the local teacher bargaining unit and the local superintendent (or
the emergency financial officer, if there is one). The plan must include an
executed addendum to each applicable collective bargaining agreement in effect.
The state reform/redesign officer would approve, disapprove, or make changes to
the plan within 30 days. The local board would have 30 days to incorporate
recommended changes and resubmit the plan. A disapproval could be appealed to
the state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Once a plan is implemented, the
school board must send regular monitoring reports to the state reform officer.
• Create a single State School Reform/Redesign School District made up of all
public schools whose redesign plans had been disapproved, as well as all of those
schools whose redesign plans were not achieving satisfactory results. One of the
four models would then be put in place in each affected school at the beginning of
the next school year, and an addendum to the collective bargaining agreement
would be put in place to implement the school intervention model. The state
reform officer would act as the superintendent of the special district. In the
special district, any contractual or other seniority system that would otherwise
apply would not be applicable and any contractual or other work rules that were
Analysis available at http://www.legislature.mi.gov "Race to the Top" Legislation Page 3 of 7
impediments to implementing the redesign plan would not apply. However,
unilateral changes in pay scales or benefits would not be allowed.
• Allow the appointment of a chief executive officer for multiple schools in cases
where the state reform officer determined that better educational results are likely
to be achieved by allowing a CEO to take control of those schools. The reform
officer would make a recommendation to the state school superintendent that a
CEO be appointed. If a CEO is appointed, he or she would impose one of the
four school intervention models and the necessary addendum to collective
bargaining agreements. The CEO would have the same powers and duties as the
reform officer has for public schools placed in the state school reform/redesign
school district, and would have to submit regular monitoring reports to the reform
officer on the implementation and results of the intervention model.
• Alter collective bargaining agreements based on the model of intervention
adopted.
o For a restart model imposed on a low-achieving school, the state reform
officer or the CEO would enter into an agreement with an educational
management organization (EMO) to manage and operate the public school
or schools. No collective bargaining agreement would be considered to be
in effect under this model.
o Under a turnaround model, any collective bargaining agreement would
continue to apply with respect to pay scales and benefits, and, subject to
any addendum to the agreement, an employee would continue to retain
and accrue seniority rights.
• Limit the use of the transformational model so that if more than nine public
schools operated by a district were on the lowest-achieving school list, the
transformation model could not be implemented for more than 50 percent of
them.
• Require the state reform officer to report at least annually to the standing
committees of the Senate and House of Representatives having jurisdiction over
education legislation on the progress being made in improving student proficiency
due to these new measures.
• Require the Michigan Department of Education to post on its website both the
final work rules and formula for identifying the lowest achieving five percent of
public schools in each state and a list of the Michigan public schools identified as
being among the lowest achieving five percent. This must be done as soon as
practicable after the federal Department of Education adopts its final work rules
and formula.
House Bill 4788
The bill amends Public Act 336 of 1947 (MCL 423.215), which establishes the
bargaining rights of public employees. It does the following:
(1) Specifies that if a public school is placed in the state school reform/redesign school
district, or is placed under a chief executive officer, then for the purposes of collective
bargaining, the state reform officer or CEO is the public school employer. Further, the
bill specifies that a public school employer's collective bargaining duty, and a collective
bargaining agreement entered into, are both subject to modifications that may be required
if a school implements certain school intervention models.
(2) Modifies the prohibition on collective bargaining between schools and employees
over contracting for non-instructional support services so that the prohibition would only
apply if the bargaining unit providing the non-instructional support services is given an
opportunity to bid on the contract for the non-instructional support services on an equal
basis as other bidders.
House Bill 5597
The bill amends the Revised School Code (MCL 380.1531i) to provide for an alternative
process for teacher certification as authorized by the Michigan Department of Education.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction is to establish a process for an individual to earn
an interim teaching certificate that would qualify a person both to teach in the public
schools and to earn a permanent teaching certificate. The alternative certification process
must meet all of the requirements for an alternate route to certification under the federal
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Under the alternative certification process specified in the bill, the state school
superintendent could grant an interim teaching certificate to a person who (1) is
participating in an alternative teaching program approved by the state superintendent; (2)
holds a bachelor's, master's, doctorate, or professional degree from a regionally
accredited college or university with a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
(or the equivalent); and (3) passes both the basic skills examination and the appropriate
available subject area examinations for each subject area in which the teacher applies to
be certified.
To be an approved alternative teaching program, a program must demonstrate that it:
o Provides an intensive training program in teaching constituting at least 12
college credits hours, including training in child development or child
psychology; family and community relationships; diverse learners;
instructional strategies; and a form of field-based experience in the classroom.
o Has a proven record of producing successful teachers in one or more other
states or is modeled after such a program.
o Only accepts individuals with bachelor's, master's, doctorates, or professional
degrees from regionally accredited colleges and universities, and having a
grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent on another
scale).
An individual who had an interim teaching certificate could be employed to teach in a
public school in the same manner as a person holding a Michigan teaching certificate if
the school district or charter school where the teacher taught under an interim teaching
certificate provides intensive observation and coaching as prescribed by the state
superintendent, and the teacher is making satisfactory progress toward meeting
requirements for a Michigan teaching certificate.
The state school superintendent must develop standards for granting a Michigan teaching
certificate after a teacher has demonstrated satisfactory teaching performance for three
years under an interim teaching certificate. The state superintendent could promulgate
the rules to implement the alternative certification program.
Senate Bill 981
• Allow the creation of up to 10 new charter schools in Michigan that will be
known as schools of excellence. These schools could be authorized by local and
intermediate school districts, community colleges, and public universities. The
issuance of any contract would need to be approved by the state superintendent of
public instruction. The first five new "schools of excellence" must be schools
offering one or more high school grades (9-12). "Schools of excellence" cannot
locate in a school district that has a graduation rate of over 75 percent, on average,
for the most recent three years. The schools must employ certificated teachers or
appropriate university and college faculty.
• Allow for the creation of two K-12 cyber schools. These schools, which would
also fall under the rubric of schools of excellence, are to provide full-time
instruction to students through online learning, and the entities establishing them
must demonstrate experience in serving urban and at-risk students through an
educational model involving a significant cyber component.
• Allow certain charter schools to convert to "schools of excellence."
o For a K-8 school to convert, either (1) on average over a three-year period,
at least 90 percent of the students enrolled must have achieved a score of
proficient or better on the MEAP math and reading tests; or (2) in a school
where at least 50 percent of students are eligible for the federal free or
reduced lunch program, over a three-year period, at least 70 percent of the
students must have achieved a score of proficient or better on the MEAP
math and reading tests.
o If the converting charter is a high school, then the school must have at
least an 80 percent graduation rate, post 80 percent average attendance,
and have at minimum an 80 percent postsecondary enrollment rate.
Authorizers could give priority to schools that will work toward operating
all of grades 9 to 12 within six years after they begin operation.
• Allow the authorizing body to replace a charter school that has been converted
into a school of excellence.
• Prohibit charter school authorizers from issuing a new charter school contract in a
school district that has a graduation rate of over 75.5 percent, on average, for the
most recent three school years.
• Require an authorizer to revoke the charter of a school at the end of the school
year if the state school superintendent notifies them that a school in operation for
at least four years is among the lowest achieving five percent of all public schools
in Michigan. This does not apply to a charter school that is an alternative school
serving a special student population.
• Require school administrators to be certified after this law goes into effect, and
grandfather-in those already administering schools. The law also requires the
Michigan State Board of Education and the state school superintendent to develop
the administrator certification program, as well as to recognize alternative
pathways to earning a school administrator's certificate.
• Require that school boards, working with teachers and school administrators,
implement a rigorous, transparent, and fair performance evaluation system that
evaluates job performance at least annually; establishes clear approaches to
measuring student growth and provides teachers and school administrators with
relevant data on student growth; and evaluates job performance taking into
account multiple rating categories with student growth as a significant factor. Job
evaluations must be used to inform decisions about the following: job
effectiveness (ensuring ample opportunities to improve); promotion, retention,
and development (while providing coaching, instruction support, or professional
development); whether to grant tenure or full certification (both to teachers and
school administrators); and removing ineffective tenured and untenured teachers
and administrators (after giving ample opportunities to improve and ensuring that
these decisions are made using rigorous standards and streamlined, transparent,
and fair procedures).
• Provide high school curricular flexibility by allowing a student to complete
algebra II over 1.5 years with 1.5 credits awarded, and to partially or fully fulfill
the algebra II requirement by completing a formal career and technical education
program, or a curriculum that has appropriate embedded mathematics content,
such as a program in electronics, machining, construction, welding, engineering,
or renewable energy. (Students are already allowed to complete algebra II over
two years with two credits awarded.)
Senate Bill 926
• Specifies that a student's participation in a cyber school's educational program is
considered regular daily attendance for the purpose of state school aid
reimbursement, and exempts the cyber schools from the state's minimum number
of days and hours of instruction, and the minimum attendance requirements.
• Modifies the act's definition of "public school academy" (the legal term for a
charter school) so that it corresponds to that term as it is defined in the Revised
School Code.
• Appropriates any money received by Michigan from the federal incentive grant
program created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(known as the "Race to the Top" grant program) during the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2010.
• Requires the Center for Educational Performance and Information (located in the
Office of the State Budget Director within the Department of Management and
Budget) to create and implement a teacher identifier system with the ability to
match an individual teacher and individual students that the teacher has taught.
Subject to the laws governing student privacy, the system would have to: make
annual state assessment records of individual students accessible; enable
individual student academic achievement data, including academic growth, to be
correlated to each teacher who has taught a student; and give school board
members, teachers, and school administrators access to the data so they can make
informed decisions in order to improve instruction and student achievement.
• Require that the governing boards of schools provide teachers with adequate
access to "basic instructional supplies" (a phrase the Department of Education
will define and publish electronically). A teacher or principal without "basic
instructional supplies" could file a claim with the department, online or by
telephone. The department would then contact the district, and within three
business days, the district would have to respond--with either supplies or a
corrective plan of action. If the department was not satisfied with the response,
the department could investigate, or could withhold a portion of the total funds
due the district, and use the money to provide supplies to the teacher.
