Act No. 180

Public Acts of 1997

Approved by the Governor

December 30, 1997

Filed with the Secretary of State

December 30, 1997

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 30, 1997

STATE OF MICHIGAN

89TH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 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

Reps. Alley, Anthony, Baird, Bankes, Callahan, Cassis, Curtis, DeHart, Gilmer, Goschka, Hale, Harder, Johnson, Kelly, Mans, McBryde, McNutt, Prusi, Scott and Vaughn named co-sponsors

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5234

AN ACT to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled "An act to provide a system of public instruction and elementary and secondary schools; to revise, consolidate, and clarify the laws relating to elementary and secondary education; to provide for the organization, regulation, and maintenance of schools, school districts, public school academies, and intermediate school districts; to prescribe rights, powers, duties, and privileges of schools, school districts, public school academies, and intermediate school districts; to provide for the regulation of school teachers and certain other school employees; to provide for school elections and to prescribe powers and duties with respect thereto; to provide for the levy and collection of taxes; to provide for the borrowing of money and issuance of bonds and other evidences of indebtedness; to establish a fund and provide for expenditures from that fund; to provide for and prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, the state board of education, and certain other boards and officials; to provide for licensure of boarding schools; to prescribe penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts," by amending section 1280 (MCL 380.1280), as amended by 1995 PA 289.

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 state board as having met or exceeded state board-approved standards established 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 state board. After a review and revision, if appropriate, of the proposed standards, the state board 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.

(4) The department 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 pupil performance on Michigan education assessment program (MEAP) tests and the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279 as criteria, but shall not be based solely on pupil performance on MEAP tests or on the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279. The standards shall also include multiple year change in pupil performance on MEAP tests and multiple year change in the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279 as criteria. If it is necessary for the state board 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 department 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 department 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 department 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) The department 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.

(10) The department 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 department for technical assistance exceed the capacity, priority shall be given to unaccredited schools.

(11) A school that has been unaccredited for 3 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.

(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.

(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.

(12) The department 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.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Secretary of the Senate.

Approved

Governor.