HOUSE BILL NO. 5833

June 04, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Paquette, Tyrone Carter, Brenda Carter, Yancey, Shannon, Markkanen, Miller, Gay-Dagnogo and Hood and referred to the Committee on Education.

"The revised school code,"

(MCL 380.1 to 380.1852) by adding section 1277c.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 1277c. (1) Not later than the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, the department shall establish and implement a school liaison program to facilitate communication between the department and public schools. The department shall ensure that the program includes all of the following features:

(a) A system of school liaisons who are able to communicate directly with department staff on matters of relevance to the school the liaison represents. This system must provide the school liaisons with information on current and pending statutes, rules, and guidelines that affect public education and afford the school liaisons with opportunities to provide feedback from the field directly to the department on the impact of these statutes, rules, and guidelines on the schools and local areas that they represent. The department shall provide the information described in this subdivision in a way that is reasonably tailored to assist school liaisons from specific regions of this state and specific types of schools to understand and respond to the impact on their region and school.

(b) A method prescribed by the department for electing an individual who is employed at a public school to serve as the liaison to the department from that public school. Individuals employed in any capacity at a public school are eligible for election.

(2) To support the school liaison program under subsection (1), the board of a school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall do all of the following:

(a) Ensure that the staff members of each public school operated by the school district or public school academy have the opportunity to elect a school liaison in the manner prescribed by the department under subsection (1)(b).

(b) Ensure that the school liaison for each public school operated by the school district or public school academy has the opportunity to communicate with other staff members in the school concerning the information shared under subsection (1)(a).