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Lawmakers to return Dec. 30 for
charter school bill
by Amy F. Bailey, December 21, 2002, Detroit News
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www.bridges4kids.org.
In a highly unusual move, the state Senate will return to
consider several bills on Dec. 30, the same day lawmakers
symbolically close the two-year session.
The 2001-2002 legislative session was scheduled to wrap up
last week. But the Senate adjourned around 10:30 p.m. Friday
just before the House passed several bills, including one that
would add 15 charter schools in Detroit.
Those bills still need Senate approval, or will die after noon
Dec. 30 when the two-year session ends. They would then have
to be reintroduced after Jan. 1 and could be open to a
possible veto by incoming Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, said Friday
that senators will return to Lansing on Monday, Dec. 30.
House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, said Thursday he would
call the House back into session if the Senate returned. But
he issued a news release Friday evening saying the House will
not come back to Lansing before the end of the year.
"We passed a good bill, which benefits many students within
Detroit's schools," Johnson said about the charter school
legislation. "We remain hopeful that the Senate will concur
with the legislation as is."
DeGrow said the importance of the bills awaiting the Senate's
review made him take the unusual step of calling senators back
into session so late in the year.
"This emergency session of the Michigan Legislature is
warranted given the dire economic conditions of the day, the
extraordinary current budgetary limitations and the existence
of a unique legislative school funding proposal," DeGrow said
in a letter to the secretary of the Senate and the House
clerk.
Granholm has said lawmakers should not break with tradition
and take up legislation on sine die, the last day on which
session can be held. Usually only a few legislators return to
the Capitol to symbolically end the legislative session. She
would prefer lawmakers wait to take up new bills until after
she takes office.
But GOP Gov. John Engler and the House have urged the Senate
to return to approve the charter school bill, which would add
three new charter schools a year for five years in Detroit and
include at least one new high school.
Engler and Democratic Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick support
bills allowing the 15 new charter schools in Detroit. About
18,417 students attend one of the 43 charter schools already
in the city of Detroit, said Dan Quisenberry, president of the
Michigan Association of Public School Academies.
The legislation would give the Detroit Public Schools $2.5
million in each of the next three years to offset enrollment
lost to new charter schools.
Because charter schools are public schools entitled to the
same per-pupil grant as traditional schools, Detroit schools
would lose the per-pupil grant for each student who transfers
to a charter school. The extra state money would cushion some
of that blow.
A Detroit Public Schools spokeswoman didn't immediately return
a telephone call Friday seeking comment.
The legislation would give the mayor of Detroit control over
the charter school application process. New charter schools
must promise to focus on achieving graduation rates of 90
percent or higher to receive approval, according to the bill.
The Thompson-McCully Foundation of Plymouth has committed
between $100 million and $200 million to help build 15 new
buildings for the charter schools, a requirement under the
bill.
DeGrow said he expects a close vote on the bill in the Senate.
"I think there are some concerns" about the financing in the
bill, he said. "We'll be short a few (votes) but I think we'll
be fine."
If the mayor of Detroit doesn't approve three charter schools
a year over the next five years, the bill would allow
universities to open charter schools up to the new limit
allowed for Detroit.
Now, the number of charter schools the state's public
universities are allowed to open is capped at 150 -- a number
they reached in 1999. School districts and some other
education-related entities are allowed to open charter schools
but aren't affected by the limit.
Michigan has 188 charter schools enrolling about 70,000
students, Quisenberry said. Charter schools receive public
money, but have more flexibility to design their own
curriculum and instructional methods than traditional public
schools.
About the bill
Details of legislation expected to be taken up on Dec. 30
by the state Senate that would add 15 charter schools in
Detroit:
_ Adds three new charter schools a year for each of the next
five years in Detroit.
_ Requires at least one of the 15 charter schools be a high
school or a school that plans to eventually include high
school students.
_ Gives the Detroit Public Schools $2.5 million in each of the
next three years to offset enrollment lost to new charter
schools.
_ Allows the mayor of Detroit to control the charter school
application process.
_ Requires schools to promise to focus on high graduation
rates to receive approval.
_ Requires charter schools to open in buildings no older than
those completed in October 2002.
_ Allows universities to open more charter schools if the
mayor of Detroit doesn't approve three charter schools a year
over the next five years.
Source: House Republican Policy office.
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