CHARACTER DEVEL0PMENT PROGRAM S.B. 222 (S-4): FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 222 (Substitute S-4 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Valde Garcia
Committee: Education
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised School Code to require the Michigan Department of Education to develop and make available to school districts and public school academies one or more model character development programs for the 2004-2005 school year and succeeding school years. A school board or the board of directors of a public school academy would be encouraged to provide a comprehensive character development program for pupils in each grade level it operated.
The character development program would have to be the same as or similar to the Michigan model for comprehensive school health education character education curriculum, the Character Counts program, the Character First! Education series, or the Character Unlimited Program. The program would have to be based on the principles of effective character education published by the National Character Education Partnership; be secular and researched-based in nature; teach core ethical values and character qualities such as those specified in the bill; and be incorporated, as much as possible, into each school's regular curriculum, classroom instruction, procedures, and environment.
Proposed MCL 380.1163 Legislative Analyst: Claire Layman
FISCAL IMPACT
The Department of Education would face increased costs due to this legislation. Specifically, the Department would see increased labor costs for those employees necessary to develop and disseminate a character development curriculum, and there would be associated research, development, and distribution costs.
Date Completed: 3-30-04
Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers-Coty
floor\sb222 (S-4) Analysis available @ http://www.michiganlegislature.org
This 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.
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. sb222/0304