INSTRUCTION
House Bill 4435
Sponsor: Rep. Ron Jelinek
Committee: Education
Complete to 3-24-99
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4435 AS INTRODUCED 3-23-99
House Bill 4435 would amend the State School Aid Act of 1979 to waive the minimum days of instruction for a current school year by allowing a district to use accumulated 'snow days' that the district had carried-over from the three preceding school years.
Specifically, the bill specifies that if, over the three years immediately preceding the current school year, a district counted as days of pupil instruction less than the maximum number of days allowed to be counted for that entire three-year period as days of pupil instruction under the severe storm provision, the district could count one or more of those unused days, up to that maximum, as a day of pupil instruction for the current school year, but only for a day when pupil instruction was not provided due to conditions outside the control of school authorities, as specified in the law.
Further, House Bill 4435 would delete two out-dated provisions that address special cases in which the minimum number of days, or hours, of pupil instruction were waived during the 1997-98 school year.
Under the Revised School Code (MCL 380.12.84), public schools are required to offer a certain number of days and hours of pupil instruction in order to be eligible for state aid. For many years, the minimum number of school days in Michigan was 180. However, over a ten year period that began in the fall of 1997 and will end in the fall of 2006, the minimum number of school days will increase to 190, as one day is added each year. (The number of instructional hours also increases over the ten years, from 900 to 1,140.)
Under the State School Aid Act (MCL 388.1701), a two-day grace period is provided. Under the law, the first two days for which pupil instruction is not provided because of conditions not within the control of school authorities, such as severe storms, fires, epidemic, or health considerations, are counted as days of pupil instruction. However, subsequent days that school is closed because of these conditions are not counted. In such instances, the school year is extended in order that school aid not be reduced.
MCL 388.1701
Analyst: J. Hunault