ED. OPPORTUNITY FOR MIL. CHILDREN H.B. 5963 (H-1):
FLOOR SUMMARY
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House Bill 5963 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Representative Gino Polidori
House Committee: Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security
Senate Committee: Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs
CONTENT
The bill would create a new act entering Michigan into the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact does all of the following:
-- Requires that students be allowed to continue their enrollment at grade level in the receiving state, and provides for the transfer of records from the sending state.
-- Requires Compact states to give 30 days from the date of enrollment for students to obtain required immunizations.
-- Establishes standards for students' placement in courses, and for the provision of special education services.
-- Requires that a student be granted additional excused absences to visit with his or her parent or guardian called to duty for, on leave from, or immediately returning from combat deployment.
-- Establishes standards for enrollment, extracurricular participation, and graduation.
-- Requires each member state to have a State Council, which must appoint or designate a liaison to assist military families and states in facilitating the Compact's implementation.
-- Specifies that member states create the Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children as a joint agency of the member states, and identifies its powers and duties.
-- Provides for the financing of the Interstate Commission through annual assessments on member states.
-- Establishes the Compact's effective date as the date on which 10 states become Compact members.
-- Provides for states' withdrawal from the Compact and the dissolution of the Compact upon the withdrawal of all but one member state.
-- Specifies that the Compact, rules promulgated under it, and all lawful actions of the Interstate Commission are binding upon the member states.
The bill also would require the Governor to appoint Michigan's representative to the Interstate Commission.
Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter
FISCAL IMPACT
The State would see increased costs related to being a member of the Interstate Commission, estimated by the Council of State Governments to be between $1,600 and $5,000 annually. Article XIV of the Compact provides that the Interstate Commission may levy on and collect an annual assessment from each member state to cover the cost of the operations and activities of the Commission and its staff, which must be at least an amount to cover the annual budget. The assessment must be allocated based upon a formula determined by the Commission, and will be binding upon all member states.
Also, if the State were found to be in default of the Compact or rules, and legal fees related to that finding were paid, the State would be responsible for those fees. The State could see additional costs if it created a State Council to provide for the coordination among its agencies of government, school districts, and military installations concerning the State's participation in the Compact and Interstate Commission activities.
Local units of government would not incur increased costs.
Date Completed: 5-8-08 Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers-Coty
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. hb5963/0708