name="2">364 (S-2):
FLOOR ANALYSISSenate Bill 364
(Substitute S-2 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)ELIMINATE 180-DAY SCHOOL YEAR - S.B. name="2">364 (S-2):
FLOOR ANALYSISSenate Bill 364
(Substitute S-2 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Wayne Kuipers
CONTENT
The bill would amend the State School Aid Act to remove the requirement that schools provide a minimum of 180 days of pupil instruction, or forfeit a percentage of their State aid allocation; and delete the provision that at least 75% of a district’s membership must be in attendance on any day of pupil instruction, or the district will forfeit a percentage of its State aid. Districts still would have to provide a minimum number of 1,098 hours of pupil instruction.
Also, the bill would permit the first 15 instructional hours lost due to circumstances out of control of a district, such as severe storms, fires, epidemics, or heath conditions, to be counted toward the 1,098-hour requirement. This would replace the current two “snow days” for which the Act provides.
MCL 388.1701 - Legislative Analyst: Claire Layman
FISCAL IMPACT
Under the bill, each school district individually would determine the number of days necessary to complete a school year, providing at least 1,098 hours of pupil instruction. This would allow school districts to operate on a four-day school week if they so chose. There could be substantial savings to a school district that completed its school year in less than 180 days.
Several school districts were asked in a survey to estimate their cost savings if they could operate on a four-day school week. The amount of savings based on the responses was broken down on a per-pupil basis. Based on those results, it is estimated that the cost savings of moving to a four-day school week, while maintaining a minimum of 1,098 hours of instruction, would range from $300 to $500 per pupil depending on the size of the school district. Larger school districts with more buildings would save at the higher end of the estimate while smaller districts with fewer buildings would realize savings at the lower end. The savings would result from lower salaries for certain staff and the avoidance of building operation costs, such heat, electricity, and water. (These estimates are based on a small sampling of school districts and the results among individual districts could be more or less than estimated here.)
Additionally, since the average school day is 6.5 hours long, changing the “snow days” provision would allow an estimated 2.3 snow days before any additional missed hours of instruction would have to be made up.
Finally, districts would no longer have to comply with the 75% attendance requirement or be penalized for not doing so, and therefore could realize a saving from this change as well. This could benefit a district where, for example, a flu epidemic broke out and the district thus was penalized under current law for each day that it did not meet the 75% attendance requirement.
Date Completed: 4-30-03 - Fiscal Analyst: Joe CarrascoFloor\sb364 - Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.