HISTORICAL INSTRUCTION                                                                     S.B. 423 (S-3):

                                                                                                      FLOOR SUMMARY

Senate Bill 423 (Substitute S-3 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)

Sponsor:  Senator Patrick J. Colbeck

Committee:  Education

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:

-- Encourage the board of a school district, or board of directors of a public school academy (PSA), to provide instruction that focused on the core principles of the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and State Constitution.

-- Allow the board of a school district or PSA, and its professional school personnel, to develop curricula and materials for this instruction that were aligned with the State Board of Education recommended model core academic curriculum content standards.

-- Require the State Board of Education, by May 1, 2014, to update those standards for each grade level that has a State assessment for social studies to ensure that they covered the instruction required under the bill.

-- Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to ensure that State assessments at all grade levels with a State assessment for social studies included questions related to the instruction described in the bill, including at least the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

MCL 380.1278 et al.                                                   Legislative Analyst:  Glenn Steffens

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would increase State costs for the Department of Education by requiring the State Board to update the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards to ensure they covered the instruction described in the bill, and by requiring the State Superintendent to ensure that State assessments for each grade level that tests social studies included questions related to the instruction described in, and documents enumerated in, the bill.  While it is possible that the Department has enough questions to meet the requirement for grade 11, it is likely that questions would need to be written for the other two grade levels that currently are tested in social studies.  If the testing had to be broadened so that all of the content prescribed in the legislation were tested, costs could run into six figures, according to the Department.  If the assessments instead could satisfy the legislation by covering 10% to 20% of the content prescribed in the bill, and if the assessment reports did not need to be altered to indicate specific scores on the constitutional content, then the costs would be lower.

While the bill would not require local districts to adopt the instruction described in it, districts could feel obligated to include instruction on the specified topics since the bill would require State assessments to include questions on them.  If that instruction were greater than what is being taught now, indirectly districts could see some increased compliance costs in aligning their instruction with the topics listed in the bill. 

Date Completed:  12-11-13                                           Fiscal Analyst:  Kathryn Summers

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.