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 Senate
Debates No MEAP Test Results, No AYP Grade
MIRS, October 23, 2003
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Schools that saw more than 25 percent of their students'
Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) test results vanish
during the now-infamous grading delay this past summer will not
see a letter grade this year as part of the new Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) standard, under legislation debated in committee
today.
The Senate Education Committee took testimony today on SB 787,
sponsored by Sen. Bill HARDIMAN (R-Kentwood), a bill birthed as
a result of some technical problems the state had with two
out-of-state contractors charged with grading the MEAP tests.
Not only were results late, some were missing, a problem an
official from North Carolina-based Measurement Inc. couldn't
explain.
The bill gives schools that had 25 percent or more of their
tests lost as a result of this mess a free pass on this first
round of AYP school grading. Those schools that have less than
25 percent of their answer sheets in parts unknown will have
those tests taken out of the final equation. The Department of
Education must factor that school's AYP grade as if those tests
were never taken.
SB 787 states that the Department of Education must "make every
effort possible" to obtain an U.S. Department of Education
waiver for these lost-test schools to prevent them from being
penalized for a problem that was not their fault.
About six-to-eight school districts are expected to fall in the
25 percent-or-more bracket. An unknown number of others will
fall into the under-25-percent range. The problem impacted Grand
Rapids, Pinckney and some Southeast Michigan schools.
Based on comments made at today's hearing, it looks like the
bill should have no problem moving out of committee. There is a
small wrinkle with the impact on school districts that Committee
Chairman Sen. Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland) wants to iron out before
the bill goes to the Senate floor.
Sen. Irma CLARK-COLEMAN (D-Detroit) expressed interest in some
type of remedy for the high school students whose lost test
scores might have cost them a Merit Award Scholarship, a $2,500
award that is based solely on the MEAP.
Kuipers pointed out that the state can not assume a lost test is
an excellent test and that short of having the student retake
the test at no cost to them, he didn't see anything that could
be done. However, he said he was open to discussion and ideas.
To address this situation, a new bill would have to be
introduced since the subject of the Merit Award is tackled in a
different section of state law.
On the subject of the missing MEAP tests, Sen. Nancy CASSIS
(R-Novi) wanted to make it clear that although the Department of
Education has announced that it is cutting ties with the two
contractors publicly chastised as causing the missing tests,
they should not be solely blamed.
The evidence collected during the Senate Education Committee's
numerous hearings on the missing tests shows that state
government should be partially blamed for the delay because the
department's constant hounding of the contractors further
delayed the scores, Cassis said.
Kuipers pointed out that the ECS contract was a one-year
contract, anyway, and their services would not have been needed
post-2003 had they done a flawless job.
In other committee action today, the Senate Education Committee
moved a bill that would allow local school districts to put
their training and development money into a state-sponsored
"principal leadership academy."
The Department of Education would be charged with starting this
academy under HB 4714, sponsored by Rep. David FARHAT
(R-Muskegon), and will be taught by school principals who have
demonstrated success in improving pupil performance.
The department will talk to superintendents and intermediate
superintendents to put together a list of principals who would
be good candidates for this training.
Sen. Burton LELAND (D-Detroit) said he thought the bill's
movement today was ironic considering the same committee moved a
bill that eliminated a state mandate that required teacher
development.
"We're treating teachers like chopped liver, but since
administrators are a little higher up in the pecking order and
because they 'get a little lonely out there,' they deserve some
love," Leland said.
Kuipers said the two subjects are apples and oranges. The Farhat
bill gives schools the option to take advantage of the principal
academy as one of several staff development options school
officials are allowed to spend money on. It is not a mandate, he
emphasized.
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Jelinek: K-12 Will Be Cut
MIRS, October 25, 2003
Sen. Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks), chair of the Senate
Appropriations K-12 Subcommittee, told MIRS on Thursday that he
sees no scenario other than cuts in K-12 funding as a result of
the pending $897 million shortfall in the Fiscal Year 2004
budget.
Whether it's a cut in categoricals or a cut in the
$6,700-per-student foundation grants, the sacred cow of state
government funding will face some slicing.
"Something is going to have to come from somewhere. I just don't
see any way around it," Jelinek said. "The rest of the General
Fund is short. There is no angel coming from the General Fund to
bail out the School Aid Fund this time."
On another front, Jelinek said he's skeptical about information
re-circulating around the Senate that shows school districts at
the end of 2001-02 school year had a combined ending fund
balance of $4.6 billion and he'd shy away from basing the degree
of K-12 cuts on that information.
The updated information on the ending fund balance for the
2002-03 year is expected to come out next month and likely will
be less than the $4.6 billion recorded last year. Even if there
is a sizeable balance, Jelinek said school districts still need
to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
"I don't think they are hoarding money," he said. "I think they
are trying to make sure they have the money they need to be
fiscally responsible. Should we punish them for that?"
He pointed out that some districts keep large fund balances to
pay for certain big-ticket items, like a bus, as opposed to
bonding out for equipment and paying off those bonds later.
However, some lawmakers will be keeping a sharp eye on what the
school districts' have in the bank.
"The arguments you have from schools, 'Woe is us. We have no
money,' may not be accurate," said Sen. Wayne KUIPERS, chair of
the Senate Education Committee.
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