January 25, 2017, Introduced by Reps. Chang, Schor, Pagan, Camilleri, Guerra, Phelps, Chirkun, Sneller, Faris, Cochran, Ellison, Geiss, Brinks, Zemke, Love, Hammoud, Robinson, Howrylak, Lucido and Greig and referred to the Committee on Education Reform.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
(MCL 380.1 to 380.1852) by adding section 1258.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1258. (1) Not later than March 1, 2018, the board of a
school district or intermediate school district or board of
directors of a public school academy shall adopt and implement a
policy that prescribes procedures that the school district,
intermediate school district, or public school academy must follow
before closing a school building. These procedures shall address at
least all of the following:
(a) Reporting of data to the department as required by law.
(b) Transition of pupils and their records, including academic
and medical records, to new schools.
(c) The selection of a records repository for the purposes of
subsection (3) and the submission of pupil records to that
repository.
(d) Timely notification to the parents of pupils enrolled in
the school and employees working at the school. These procedures
shall include at least a 1-month notice before a school is closed
and at least 1 public meeting. For a public school academy that
receives notification from its authorizing body of an intent to
revoke or not renew the public school academy's contract, these
procedures also shall include notice within 1 month after that
notification. For a school district or intermediate school
district, the notification to parents also shall include
information regarding the reassignment of pupils to other schools
operated by the school district or intermediate school district.
For a public school academy, the notification to parents also shall
include information about options for placement of their children
in other public schools along with contact information and
important timelines for enrollment in other public schools. The
policy shall provide for notices described in this subdivision to
be made by first-class mail unless that method of notice is not
financially feasible, in which case an alternative method may be
used such as electronic notice, sending notice home with pupils, or
contracting with a third party to provide notice.
(e) Distribution of assets and proper securing of the closed
school building within 60 days after it is closed, if it is not
anticipated to be leased or sold in a timely manner. The procedure
for distribution of assets shall include at least an accounting of
the assets of the school building and a report to the board of the
school district or intermediate school district or to the
authorizing body of the public school academy, as applicable, that
inventories those assets. However, except as otherwise provided
under this act, for a public school that has been incorporated
under the nonprofit corporation act, 1982 PA 162, MCL 450.2101 to
450.3192, the procedure shall comply with that act with respect to
distribution of assets.
(f) A provision that, if a decision to close a school building
is based on financial projections made during the normal budget
development process for the school fiscal year beginning on the
next July 1, the closure decision must be made and the notification
procedures under subdivision (d) must be started not later than
that next July 1.
(g) A provision that, if a decision to close a school building
is made for a reason other than finances, the closure decision must
be made and the notification procedures under subdivision (d) must
be started not later than the end of the school fiscal year. This
provision shall prohibit a closure during the next school year for
a reason other than finances unless this deadline is met.
(h) A provision allowing for the closure of a school building
during the school year only if there is an extenuating circumstance
that would endanger the health or safety of the pupils in
attendance at the school building. For a closure allowed under this
subdivision, the notification procedures under subdivision (d) must
be started as soon as possible after the discovery of the
extenuating circumstance.
(2) Not later than January 1, 2018, the department shall
develop and make available a model policy for the purposes of this
section that complies with subsection (1).
(3) A policy adopted under subsection (1) shall include the
selection of a records repository to provide long-term storage and
maintenance of the records of pupils of the closed school building
that are not delivered to new schools under subsection (1)(b). The
board of the school district or intermediate school district or
board of directors of the public school academy may select any of
the following as its records repository under this subsection:
(a) The intermediate school district in which the closed
school building is located, if the intermediate school district
agrees to act as the records repository for those records.
(b) If the closed school building is a public school academy,
the school district or intermediate school district in which the
closed school building is located, if the school district or
intermediate school district agrees to act as the records
repository for those records.
(c) Another person that agrees to act as the records
repository for those records, if the person demonstrates to the
satisfaction of the board or board of directors that it has the
expertise to provide long-term storage and maintenance of those
records.
(d) The department. The department shall act as a central
records repository and provide long-term storage and maintenance of
those pupil records from school buildings that have been closed
that have not been submitted to another records repository selected
under this subsection.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.