STATE OF EMERGENCY FORGIVENESS S.B. 113 (S-2):
SUMMARY OF BILL
REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 113 (Substitute S-2 as reported)
CONTENT
The bill would amend the State School Aid Act to require the Department of Education, for 2018-2019 only, to count days that were included in a period for which the Governor had issued an Executive Order declaring a state of emergency across the State as days and hours of pupil instruction.
The Act requires each district to provide at least 180 days of pupil instruction. A district that fails to comply with the required minimum hours and days of pupil instruction under the Act must forfeit from its total State aid allocation an amount determined by applying a ratio of the number of hours or days the district was in noncompliance in relation to the required minimum number of hours and days in the Act.
The first six days or the equivalent number of hours for which pupil instruction is not provided because of conditions not within the control of school authorities, such as severe storms, fires, epidemics, utility power unavailability, water or sewer failure, or health conditions as defined by the city, county, or State health authorities, are counted as hours and days of pupil instruction.
Under the bill, for 2018-2019 only, in addition to these six days, if pupil instruction were not provided on one or more days that were included in a period for which the Governor had issued an Executive Order declaring a state of emergency across the State, those days and the corresponding number of hours would be considered days and hours of pupil instruction and the Department would have to count them as such. The bill states that for 2018-2019, the days included in the Executive Order are January 29, 2019, to February 2, 2019.
MCL 388.1701 Legislative Analyst: Nathan Leaman
FISCAL IMPACT
By designating four state-of-emergency days as days of pupil instruction in the current school year, a school district would not have to make up those four days, or face a reduction in State aid if it chose not to make up those days, if it otherwise would have exceeded of the cap on 'snow days'. If a district in excess of the 'snow day' cap, in the absence of this bill, would have chosen to take a reduction in State aid rather than make up the days, then the State would experience a reduction in costs equal to the financial penalty assessed to the district. If a district otherwise would have made up the snow days in excess of the cap, then there would be no fiscal impact to the State, but the district likely would face increased costs associated with adding days of instruction to the school year.
Date Completed: 4-17-19 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.