November 19, 2008, Introduced by Rep. Melton and referred to the Committee on Education.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending section 1280 (MCL 380.1280), as amended by 2006 PA 123.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1280. (1) The board of a school district that does not
want to be subject to the measures described in this section shall
ensure that each public school within the school district is
accredited.
(2) As used in subsection (1), and subject to subsection (6),
"accredited" means certified by the superintendent of public
instruction as having met or exceeded standards established under
this section for 6 areas of school operation: administration and
school organization, curricula, staff, school plant and facilities,
school and community relations, and school improvement plans and
student performance. The building-level evaluation used in the
accreditation process shall include, but is not limited to, school
data collection, self-study, visitation and validation,
determination of performance data to be used, and the development
of a school improvement plan.
(3) The department shall develop and distribute to all public
schools proposed accreditation standards. Upon distribution of the
proposed standards, the department shall hold statewide public
hearings for the purpose of receiving testimony concerning the
standards. After a review of the testimony, the department shall
revise and submit the proposed standards to the superintendent of
public instruction. After a review and revision, if appropriate, of
the proposed standards, the superintendent of public instruction
shall submit the proposed standards to the senate and house
committees that have the responsibility for education legislation.
Upon approval by these committees, the department shall distribute
to all public schools the standards to be applied to each school
for accreditation purposes. The superintendent of public
instruction shall review and update the accreditation standards
annually using the process prescribed under this subsection.
(4) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop and
distribute to all public schools standards for determining that a
school is eligible for summary accreditation under subsection (6).
The standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and
distributed using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3)
for accreditation standards, and shall be finally distributed and
implemented not later than December 31, 1994.
(5) The standards for accreditation or summary accreditation
under this section shall include as criteria pupil performance on
Michigan education assessment program (MEAP) tests and on the
Michigan merit examination under section 1279g, and,
until the
Michigan merit examination has been fully implemented, the
percentage
of pupils achieving state endorsement under section
1279,
but shall not be based solely on pupil
performance on MEAP
tests
or the Michigan merit examination. or on the percentage of
pupils
achieving state endorsement under section 1279. The
standards shall also include as criteria multiple year change in
pupil performance on MEAP tests and the Michigan merit examination.
and,
until after the Michigan merit examination is fully
implemented,
multiple year change in the percentage of pupils
achieving
state endorsement under section 1279. If
it is necessary
for the superintendent of public instruction to revise
accreditation or summary accreditation standards established under
subsection (3) or (4) to comply with this subsection, the revised
standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and distributed
using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3).
(6) If the superintendent of public instruction determines
that a public school has met the standards established under
subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation, the school is
considered to be accredited without the necessity for a full
building-level evaluation under subsection (2).
(7) If the superintendent of public instruction determines
that a school has not met the standards established under
subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation but that the school
is making progress toward meeting those standards, or if, based on
a full building-level evaluation under subsection (2), the
superintendent of public instruction determines that a school has
not met the standards for accreditation but is making progress
toward meeting those standards, the school is in interim status and
is subject to a full building-level evaluation as provided in this
section.
(8) If a school has not met the standards established under
subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation and is not eligible
for interim status under subsection (7), the school is unaccredited
and subject to the measures provided in this section.
(9)
Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, if If at
least
5% of a public school's answer sheets from the administration of
the Michigan educational assessment program (MEAP) tests are lost
by the department or by a state contractor and if the public school
can verify that the answer sheets were collected from pupils and
forwarded to the department or the contractor, the department shall
not assign an accreditation score or school report card grade to
the public school for that subject area for the corresponding year
for the purposes of determining state accreditation under this
section. The department shall not assign an accreditation score or
school report card grade to the public school for that subject area
until the results of all tests for the next year are available.
(10) Subsection (9) does not preclude the department from
determining whether a public school or a school district has
achieved adequate yearly progress for the school year in which the
answer sheets were lost for the purposes of the no child left
behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110. However, the department
shall ensure that a public school or the school district is not
penalized when determining adequate yearly progress status due to
the fact that the public school's MEAP answer sheets were lost by
the department or by a state contractor, but shall not require a
public school or school district to retest pupils or produce scores
from another test for this purpose.
(11) The superintendent of public instruction shall annually
review and evaluate for accreditation purposes the performance of
each school that is unaccredited and as many of the schools that
are in interim status as permitted by the department's resources.
(12) The superintendent of public instruction shall, and the
intermediate school district to which a school district is
constituent, a consortium of intermediate school districts, or any
combination thereof may, provide technical assistance, as
appropriate, to a school that is unaccredited or that is in interim
status upon request of the board of the school district in which
the school is located. If requests to the superintendent of public
instruction for technical assistance exceed the capacity, priority
shall be given to unaccredited schools.
(13) A school that has been unaccredited for 3 consecutive
years or that has failed to achieve the federal pupil performance
standard, as determined by the department, for 4 or more
consecutive years is subject to 1 or more of the following
measures, as determined by the superintendent of public
instruction:
(a)
The superintendent of public instruction or his or her
designee
shall appoint at the expense of the affected school
district
an administrator of the school until the school becomes
accredited.
(a) The board or board of directors that operates the school
may, with the approval of the superintendent of public instruction,
enter into a contract with an organization to serve as the
administrator for the school. Unless the superintendent of public
instruction approves another organization to serve as the
administrator, the organization shall be 1 of those included on the
list compiled by the department under subsection (15). The contract
shall be for a period of 5 years and shall contain specific
performance benchmarks that the organization administering the
school is to achieve. The board or board of directors shall monitor
the organization's administration of the school to ensure that it
is achieving the benchmarks contained in the contract, and the
board or board of directors, with the approval of the
superintendent of public instruction, may terminate the contract if
it determines that the organization is not achieving those
benchmarks. The contract also shall provide that the organization
will have full control over expenditure of all state school aid
paid to the school district or public school academy for each
fiscal year in which the contract is in place that is attributable
to pupils enrolled in the school and that the organization will use
this money solely for the operation of the school, except that the
board of the school district or board of directors of the public
school academy may retain an amount not to exceed 3% of this money
for central administration and oversight expenses and the
organization may retain an amount not to exceed 3% of this money as
its fee for serving as administrator of the school.
(b) A parent, legal guardian, or person in loco parentis of a
child who attends the school may send his or her child to any
accredited
public school with an appropriate
grade level within the
school district that is either accredited or has achieved the
federal pupil performance standard, as determined by the
department, for the most recent year for which a determination has
been made.
(c) The school, with the approval of the superintendent of
public instruction, shall align itself with an existing research-
based school improvement model or establish an affiliation for
providing assistance to the school with a college or university
located in this state.
(d) The school shall be closed.
(14) If the department determines that a school has failed to
achieve the federal pupil performance standard for 5 or more
consecutive years, and the board or board of directors that
operates the school has not entered into a contract described in
subsection (13)(a), then the superintendent of public instruction
shall enter into a contract with an organization qualified under
subsection (15) to serve as the administrator for the school. The
contract shall be for a period of 5 years and shall contain
specific performance benchmarks established by the department that
the organization administering the school is to achieve. The
superintendent of public instruction shall monitor the
organization's administration of the school to ensure that it is
achieving the benchmarks contained in the contract. If the
superintendent of public instruction determines that the
organization is not achieving those benchmarks, he or she may
terminate the contract and enter into a contract with a different
organization for the balance of the 5-year period. The board or
board of directors that operates the school shall allow the
organization contracted by the superintendent of public instruction
to serve as the administrator of the school for the 5-year period.
The contract also shall provide that the organization will have
full control over expenditure of all state school aid paid to the
school district or public school academy for each fiscal year in
which the contract is in place that is attributable to pupils
enrolled in the school and that the organization will use this
money solely for the operation of the school, except that the
department may retain an amount not to exceed 3% of this money for
its oversight expenses and the organization may retain an amount
not to exceed 3% of this money as its fee for serving as
administrator of the school.
(15) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop a
process and standards for designating an organization as qualified
to serve as an administrator of a school under subsection (13)(a)
or (14). The process shall require an organization to present a
description of the turnaround model or models that it uses to
achieve improvement in pupil performance. The standards shall be
based on an organization's demonstrated record in achieving
improvement in pupil performance as measured by benchmarks such as
graduation rates, standardized test scores, and postsecondary
academic achievement of graduates. The superintendent of public
instruction may limit the designated organizations to nonprofit
organizations. The department shall develop and maintain a list of
organizations qualified to act as administrators of schools under
subsection (13)(a) or (14). The list shall include a description of
the turnaround model or models that each organization uses to
achieve improvement in pupil performance. If the superintendent of
public instruction determines that an organization has ceased to
meet the standards under this subsection, the superintendent of
public instruction shall cause the organization to be removed from
the list.
(16) The department shall develop and make available a model
contract that may be used by a board or board of directors for the
purposes of subsection (13)(a).
(17) If a board or board of directors enters into a contract
under subsection (13)(a), the board or board of directors shall
publish all of the following information on its website:
(a) The text of the contract.
(b) A description of the turnaround model or models that the
organization normally uses to achieve improvement in pupil
performance.
(c) A description of the specific turnaround model or models
that the organization will be using to achieve improvement in pupil
performance at the school.
(d) A specific description of how the money that the
organization will control under the contract will be used to
achieve improvement in pupil performance at the school.
(18) If the superintendent of public instruction enters into a
contract under subsection (14), the department shall publish all of
the following information on its website:
(a) The text of the contract.
(b) A description of the turnaround model or models that the
organization normally uses to achieve improvement in pupil
performance.
(c) A description of the specific turnaround model or models
that the organization will be using to achieve improvement in pupil
performance at the school.
(d) A specific description of how the money that the
organization will control under the contract will be used to
achieve improvement in pupil performance at the school.
(19) (14)
The superintendent of public
instruction shall
evaluate the school accreditation program and the status of schools
under this section and shall submit an annual report based upon the
evaluation to the senate and house committees that have the
responsibility for education legislation. The report shall address
the reasons each unaccredited school is not accredited and shall
recommend legislative action that will result in the accreditation
of all public schools in this state.
(20) (15)
Beginning with the 2008-2009 school
year, a high
school shall not be accredited by the department unless the
department determines that the high school is providing or has
otherwise ensured that all pupils have access to all of the
elements of the curriculum required under sections 1278a and 1278b.
If it is necessary for the superintendent of public instruction to
revise accreditation or summary accreditation standards established
under subsection (3) or (4) to comply with the changes made to this
section by the amendatory act that added this subsection, the
revised standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and
distributed using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3).
(21) As used in this section:
(a) "Achieved the federal pupil performance standard" means
that the department has determined that the school has achieved
adequate yearly progress under the no child left behind act of
2001, Public Law 107-110, or has met a successor federal standard
that the superintendent of public instruction has identified as
being a standard established by the federal government that is
based on pupil performance and is required to be met in order to
receive full federal funding.
(b) "Failed to achieve the federal pupil performance standard"
means that the department has determined that the school has failed
to achieve adequate yearly progress under the no child left behind
act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or has failed to meet a successor
federal standard that the superintendent of public instruction has
identified as being a standard established by the federal
government that is based on pupil performance and is required to be
met in order to receive full federal funding.