FY 2014-15 SCHOOL AID BUDGET S.B. 775 (CR-1): CONFERENCE REPORT
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$13,322,291,100 |
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Items Included by the Senate and House |
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1. MPSERS Rate Cap. Governor, Senate, and House increased required funding for the Michigan Public School Employees' Retirement System (MPSERS) rate cap, where school employers pay no more than 20.96% of payroll toward unfunded accrued liabilities (UAL). |
268,800,000 |
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2. Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP). Governor, Senate, and House proposed another $65.0 million increase in GSRP funding to provide preschool to at-risk four-year-olds. Of the increase, $25.0 million is set aside in a reserve fund that would be spent upon legislative transfer. |
65,000,000 |
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3. Federal Grants. Governor, Senate, and House increased Federal funds by $43.7 million. |
43,741,400 |
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4. Technical Cost Adjustments. Technical cost adjustments were included for the foundation allowance, special education, debt service, and PILT and Promise Zone payments. |
(126,257,800) |
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5. Program Transfers. Governor, Senate, and House proposed transferring out MPSERS rate cap costs and Renaissance Zone reimbursement for libraries. |
(4,500,000) |
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6. Economic Adjustments. Included a negative $85,400 Gross and a negative $69,700 GF/GP for OPEB and $218,600 Gross and $157,400 GF/GP for economics. |
133,200 |
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Conference Agreement on Items of Difference |
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7. MPSERS Rate Cap Lowering. Governor and House proposed to repurpose an existing $100.0 million in MPSERS grants to districts to instead lower the rate cap on UAL from 20.96% of payroll to 19.76% of payroll. Senate rolled into foundation. Conference retained current law, meaning the cost offset grants are funded at $100.0 million and the rate cap remains 20.96%. |
0 |
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8. Foundation Allowance Increase. Governor proposed a modified '2x', where all districts would receive a $55 increase, plus something between $28 and $56 per pupil, costing $150.0 million. Senate retained the standard 2x formula, with increases ranging between $150 and $300. House had 2x plus across the board. Conference funds a straight $50 across-the-board, and up to $125 equity payment, such that minimum operational funding would increase from $7,076 to $7,251. |
177,000,000 |
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9. Educator Evaluations. Governor proposed a new $27.8 million appropriation to fund teacher and administrator evaluations. Senate and House did not include. Conference funded at $14.8 million in a reserve, that would be expended upon enactment of House Bills 5223 and 5224. |
14,800,000 |
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10. Fiscal Emergency Fund. Governor and House proposed a new $10.0 million District Fiscal Emergency Contingency Fund. Senate did not include. Conference funded at $4.0 million. |
4,000,000 |
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11. New or Increased Programs. Conference added $108.0 million for an additional MPSERS liability payment, $3.0 million for bus conversion, $1.8 million for teacher certification review, $1.2 million for nutrition education, $4.7 million to fully fund pupil performance, $6.2 million for additional assessment costs, $250,000 for a career readiness study, $1.75 million for encouraging dual enrollment, $3.0 million for ISDs, $2.5 million for CEPI, and $330,000 for STEM. |
132,717,700 |
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12. Program Reductions or Eliminates. Conference reduced Best Practices $5.0 million (and criteria are changed), reduced consolidation incentive grants $3.0 million, reduced MVU ($2.0 million), reduced FIRST robotics ($1.0 million) eliminated student-centric grants ($8.0 million), eliminated year-round schools ($2.0 million), eliminated postsecondary transfer grants ($1.0 million), eliminated IT opportunities ($3.9 million), and eliminated principal evaluator training ($0.5 million). |
(27,400,000) |
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$548,034,500 |
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FY 2014-15 Conference Report Ongoing/One-Time Gross Appropriation..................................... |
$13,870,325,600 |
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Amount Over/(Under) GF/GP Target: $0 |
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FY 2014-15 SCHOOL AID BUDGET BOILERPLATE HIGHLIGHTS
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Changes from FY 2013-14 Year-to-Date: |
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Items Included by the Senate and House |
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1. Earmark for Online Test Conversion. Governor proposed earmarking $8.5 million out of the $50.0 million for technology grants to convert existing student assessments to online assessments, for providing paper and pencil test versions to districts not prepared for online assessments, and expanding writing assessments. Funding was moved to Section 104 (assessments). (Sec. 22i and Sec. 104) |
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2. Teacher and Administrator Evaluations. Governor required the DTMB and MDE to request proposals from vendors for educator and administrator observation tools, as specified in the Revised School Code (RSC). Funding would be distributed on a per-pupil basis to implement one of the four teacher observation tools and one of the two administrator observation tools specified in the RSC. Of the $27.8 million cost, $2.7 million is for educator-student rosters necessary for calculations of student growth data and $3.0 million for value-added modeling components, an electronic reporting system, and piloting alternative evaluations for districts with special populations. Conference established a reserve for this funding, to be expended upon enactment of House Bills 5223 and 5224. (Sec. 95a) |
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Conference Agreement on Items of Difference |
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3. Online Learning. Governor proposed numerous language changes to the section allowing for enrollment in online courses statewide, including changing the age eligibility from grades 5 to 12 to grades 7 to 12, allowing more than two courses per term if pupil has demonstrated previous success, allowing the district to deny enrollment if the cost of the online course exceeds 6.25% of the minimum foundation allowance, allowing intermediate districts (ISDs) to offer online courses, and requiring districts and ISDs to report on online enrollments and completion rates. Conference changed grade eligibility to 6 to 12, added language requiring enrollment in prior term, and changed reimbursement to 8.33% of the minimum foundation allowance. (Sec 21f) |
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4. At-Risk Allowable Uses. Governor proposed significant changes to the allowable uses of At-Risk funds by eliminating all existing language and replacing it with the allowable uses of ensuring that third graders are proficient in reading by the end of third grade and that high school graduates are career and college ready. Conference concurred.(Sec. 31a) |
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5. Great Start Readiness Program. Governor and Conference proposed allowing ISDs to provide slots to children in families with income levels at or below 300% of the Federal poverty level (FPL) if all children in the ISD in families with income levels at or below 250% of the FPL are being served. Conference did not increase per-pupil slot funding, but did earmark $150 per pupil for transportation, and allowed enrollment across ISD boundaries. (Sec 32d and 39) |
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6. Days and Hours. House and Conference increased days of instruction to 180 beginning in FY 2016-17. (Sec. 101) |
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7. Deficit Districts. Governor proposed significant changes to the Deficit District section and proposed new periodic reporting for districts in financial distress. Conference did not include. (Sec. 102 and 102a) |
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8. Assessments. Conference earmarked $3.0 million out of the increased funding request for implementing a summative assessment under Sec. 104c. Conference earmarked $3.2 million for the development or selection of an online reporting tool to provide student-level assessment data in a secure environment immediately after assessments are scored. Conference did not include interim assessments. Conference added a requirement that MDE develop a new MEAP for use in 2014-15 and a summative assessment for 2015-16. (Secs. 104, 104b, and 104c) |
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9. Adult Education. Governor proposed to eliminate the existing structure for adult education providers (grants to districts) and replace it with one that provides funding to ISDs based on 10 prosperity regions and the numbers of persons not high school graduates or those lacking basic English proficiency in the regions. The change in funding would be phased-in, with 67% of the funding in FY 2014-15 based on the previous formula, but summed to the prosperity regions on an ISD basis, and 33% of the funding based on the new measurement. Conference concurred. (Sec. 107) |
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10. MPSERS Cost Offset/Rate Cap. Governor proposed to 'repurpose' the existing $100.0 million in MPSERS cost offset grants to districts and instead use that money to lower the amount that districts pay toward the unfunded accrued liability from 20.96% of payroll to 19.76% of payroll. Governor also proposes a $50.0 million transfer from the School Aid Fund to the MPSERS Reserve Fund. Conference did not concur and instead retained MPSERS cost offset grants and the rate cap remains at 20.96% of payroll. No further deposit is made to the MPSERS reserve fund. (Secs. 147, 147a, 147b, and 147c) |
Date Completed: 06-10-14 Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers
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.