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Court Decision Could Affect
Michigan School Lunch Program
MIRS, March 8, 2006
The state Court of Appeals upheld a decision that could
potentially complicate how school districts receive food from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for school lunch
programs.
In Northern Warehousing, d/b/a Northern Food Service vs. State
of Michigan and the Department of Education (MDE) No. 260598,
the court ruled that Northern has a strong enough case to go
ahead with an injunction that could affect how lunches are
distributed.
Northern Food Service distributes and warehouses food for the
national school program in Michigan. The MDE requests surplus
food from the federal government, which Northern then warehouses
and distributes to the school.
Northern had a contract with the MDE for the 2003 school year.
The bid for the contract was competitive and Northern invested
$2.5 million in its distribution center and trucks in order to
get the contract for two of the three distribution regions
designated by the MDE, said Northern's Attorney, Jonathan RAVEN.
According to Raven, Northern had been working with the
department for about 40 or 50 years without interruption.
"Northern's been doing this for decades and no one's ever missed
a lunch," Raven said.
In 2002, before Northern got the contract for 2003, the MDE told
bidders that a cooperative of school districts called the Great
Lakes School Food Consortium had been formed to receive USDA
food. The MDE told bidders the program had 15 school districts
and that 2003 might see minor changes in that number.
"Then the department, frankly, dropped the ball," Raven said.
Northern's contract was extended to include the 2004 and 2005
school year but during 2005, a second co-op was formed and the
number of districts participating in the program increased to
more than 200 districts.
The 15-district "experiment" was fine, Raven said. However,
preliminary review showed the program was not successful so the
MDE shouldn't have expanded the program.
"Then the state did something really offensive," Raven said.
"They didn't do a final review on the co-ops and let the co-ops
go crazy."
In the mean time Northern lost 65 percent of the business the
MDE had promised in the contract, Raven said.
"The state tried to use the muscle of the state to try to screw
its own citizens in the way a business would never be able to
do," Raven said.
The Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's decision to allow
Northern to go ahead with an injunction. To get the injunction
Raven had to prove that there would be irreparable harm to his
client. Raven said even if Northern wins the case, which is
likely, the company may still go out of business.
Raven doesn't know what will happen to the school lunch delivery
system. However, the co-ops have proved to be unstable and have
questionable practices as far as contracts go, because they
didn't have to bid for the job and Northern may go out of
business. Either way, the MDE will have to look at its delivery
system.
"We don't comment on pending litigation," said Martin ACKLEY,
public information officer for the MDE.
The question is whether the two sides will work out a
compromise.
DHS Responds To Complaints from Adoptive
Parents that Subsidies for Disabled Children Have Been Denied
MIRS, March 8, 2006
Before a joint House meeting, the Department of Human Services
(DHS) responded to complaints from adoptive parents who argue
the department hasn't been giving families with disabled
children adoption subsidies.
The subsidies are funded by federal and state governments and
are an optional program each state can enter into. The subsidies
are designed to give financial help to families who adopt
children that have special needs.
During testimony before the House Family and Children Services
Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Department of Human Services, several parents of adoptive
children with special needs made three general complaints.
They claimed the department doesn't tell parents about the
program and that if it does tell parents about the program
before the child is adopted, department representatives
sometimes claim that the parents could lose the child while the
parents are waiting for the subsidy.
According to written testimony provided by the department,
Michigan subsidy expenditures have increased by 162 percent in
the last 10 years increasing from $80 million in 1996 to $209
million in 2005.
The department also stated that more than 90 percent of kids
adopted from the child welfare system in 2005 received adoption
support subsidy funds.
One of the problems seems to be with guidelines surrounding the
subsidies. Michigan's subsidy guidelines are supposed to match
federal guidelines but the parents say this isn't happening.
Parents claim that as a result of these discrepancies, they're
not getting the subsidies they deserve. For example, many kids
who seem developmentally fine when they're infants, develop
serious emotional problems as they get older.
The department presented a slew of criteria that can be met in
order for a child to qualify for the subsidy and age is one
requirement. If a child is older than three, they qualify.
However, parents with children that fit the age group are not
qualifying.
Parents also complained that the department isn't fully
disclosing the children's physical, mental and emotional history
before the parents sign adoption papers.
The department's written testimony didn't include any response
to this concern.
The committee is going to compare Michigan's subsidy guidelines
to federal subsidy guidelines. Parents expressed that some of
the problems with the system may be due to the fact that
Michigan's guidelines are out of line with federal guidelines.
The committee discussed this issue last week and will continue
to review testimony before making any kind of recommendations.
Kuipers Will Propose Different High School
Graduation Requirements
MIRS, March 8, 2006
Thursday Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Wayne [KUIPERS]
(R-Holland) will propose stringent high school graduation
requirements that are different from the ones that recently
passed the House.
Kuipers has spent several months traveling around the state,
holding public hearings on the proposed graduation requirements.
After logging nearly 3,000 miles, he's come up with a plan of
his own, that follows state Superintendent Mike FLANAGAN's ideas
and has bipartisan support.
“My proposal is the culmination of the public feedback we've
heard,” Kuipers said. “I've listened to all the concerns
expressed and have incorporated them into my bill. This is a
good proposal and I want to make it better.”
When asked if his proposal was similar to the proposal in the
House, Kuipers said "no" but then clarified by saying they both
have to do with curriculum.
"I think they (House) made some pretty significant changes,"
Kuipers said. "It's (his plan) closer to where we're at than
where we were when we started. There's some pretty clear
differences."
Kuipers wanted to hold off on the details of the plan until
Thursday's meeting.
The Senate Education Committee will discuss the proposed
graduation requirements at 2 p.m. Thursday, in room 210 of the
Farnum Building.
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