HOUSE BILL No. 5234
October 7, 1997, Introduced by Reps. LeTarte, Jelinek, Dalman, Gire, Agee, Schauer, Bogardus, Kilpatrick, Martinez, Middleton, Brackenridge, Kaza, Cherry, Bodem, Schermesser, London, Hammerstrom, Oxender, Geiger, Wojno, Byl, Sikkema, Scranton and Raczkowski 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 1995 PA 289. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Sec. 1280. (1) The board of a school district that does not 2 want to be subject to the measures described in this section 3 shall ensure that each public school within the school district 4 is accredited. 5 (2) As used in subsection (1), and subject to subsection 6 (6), "accredited" means certified by the state board as having 7 met or exceeded state board-approved standards established for 6 8 areas of school operation: administration and school 9 organization, curricula, staff, school plant and facilities, 10 school and community relations, and school improvement plans and 04582'97 TAV 2 1 student performance. The building-level evaluation used in the 2 accreditation process shall include, but is not limited to, 3 school data collection, self-study, visitation and validation, 4 determination of performance data to be used, and the development 5 of a school improvement plan. 6 (3) The department shall develop and distribute to all 7 public schools proposed accreditation standards. Upon distribu- 8 tion of the proposed standards, the department shall hold state- 9 wide public hearings for the purpose of receiving testimony con- 10 cerning the standards. After a review of the testimony, the 11 department shall revise and submit the proposed standards to the 12 state board. After a review and revision, if appropriate, of the 13 proposed standards, the state board shall submit the proposed 14 standards to the senate and house committees that have the 15 responsibility for education legislation. Upon approval by these 16 committees, the department shall distribute to all public schools 17 the standards to be applied to each school for accreditation 18 purposes. 19 (4) The department shall develop and distribute to all 20 public schools standards for determining that a school is eligi- 21 ble for summary accreditation under subsection (6). The stan- 22 dards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and distributed 23 using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3) for 24 accreditation standards, and shall be finally distributed and 25 implemented not later than December 31, 1994. 26 (5) The standards for accreditation or summary accreditation 27 under this section shall include pupil performance on Michigan 04582'97 3 1 education assessment program (MEAP) tests as a criterion AND ON 2 THE ASSESSMENTS USED UNDER SECTION 1279 AS CRITERIA, but shall 3 not be based solely on pupil performance on MEAP tests OR ON THE 4 ASSESSMENTS USED UNDER SECTION 1279. The standards shall also 5 include multiple year change in pupil performance on those tests 6 AND ASSESSMENTS as a criterion CRITERIA. If it is necessary 7 for the state board to revise accreditation or summary accredit- 8 ation standards established under subsection (3) or (4) to comply 9 with this subsection, the revised standards shall be developed, 10 reviewed, approved, and distributed using the same process as 11 prescribed in subsection (3). 12 (6) If the department determines that a public school has 13 met the standards established under subsection (4) or (5) for 14 summary accreditation, the school is considered to be accredited 15 without the necessity for a full building-level evaluation under 16 subsection (2). 17 (7) If the department determines that a school has not met 18 the standards established under subsection (4) or (5) for summary 19 accreditation but that the school is making progress toward meet- 20 ing those standards, or if, based on a full building-level evalu- 21 ation under subsection (2), the department determines that a 22 school has not met the standards for accreditation but is making 23 progress toward meeting those standards, the school is in interim 24 status and is subject to a full building-level evaluation as pro- 25 vided in this section. 26 (8) If a school has not met the standards established under 27 subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation and is not 04582'97 4 1 eligible for interim status under subsection (7), the school is 2 unaccredited and subject to the measures provided in this 3 section. 4 (9) The department shall annually review and evaluate for 5 accreditation purposes the performance of each school that is 6 unaccredited and as many of the schools that are in interim 7 status as permitted by the department's resources. 8 (10) The department shall, and the intermediate school dis- 9 trict to which a school district is constituent, a consortium of 10 intermediate school districts, or any combination thereof may, 11 provide technical assistance, as appropriate, to a school that is 12 unaccredited or that is in interim status upon request of the 13 board of the school district in which the school is located. If 14 requests to the department for technical assistance exceed the 15 capacity, priority shall be given to unaccredited schools. 16 (11) A school that has been unaccredited for 3 consecutive 17 years is subject to 1 or more of the following measures, as 18 determined by the superintendent of public instruction: 19 (a) The superintendent of public instruction or his or her 20 designee shall appoint at the expense of the affected school dis- 21 trict an administrator of the school until the school becomes 22 accredited. 23 (b) A parent, legal guardian, or person in loco parentis of 24 a child who attends the school may send his or her child to any 25 accredited public school with an appropriate grade level within 26 the school district. 04582'97 5 1 (c) The school, with the approval of the superintendent of 2 public instruction, shall align itself with an existing 3 research-based school improvement model or establish an affilia- 4 tion for providing assistance to the school with a college or 5 university located in this state. 6 (d) The school shall be closed. 7 (12) The department shall evaluate the school accreditation 8 program and the status of schools under this section and shall 9 submit an annual report based upon the evaluation to the senate 10 and house committees that have the responsibility for education 11 legislation. The report shall address the reasons each unaccred- 12 ited school is not accredited and shall recommend legislative 13 action that will result in the accreditation of all public 14 schools in this state. 15 Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take 16 effect unless all of the following bills of the 89th Legislature 17 are enacted into law: 18 (a) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 19 (request no. 04214'97). 20 (b) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 21 (request no. 04214'97 a). 22 (c) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 23 (request no. 04246'97). 24 (d) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 25 (request no. 04583'97). 26 (e) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 27 (request no. 04584'97). 04582'97 6 1 (f) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 2 (request no. 04585'97). 3 (g) Senate Bill No. ________ or House Bill No. ________ 4 (request no. 04586'97). 04582'97 Final page. TAV