S.B. 348: COMMITTEE SUMMARY - RAISE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AGE

Senate Bill 348 (as introduced 4-15-97)

Date Completed: 10-13-97

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Revised School Code to raise the mandatory school attendance age from 16 years to 18 years, and to revise penalties and fines for parents whose children do not attend school. The bill specifies that it would take effect one year after the date of its enactment.

Under the Code, every parent, guardian, or other person in the State having control and charge of a child from the age of six to the child's 16th birthday must send that child to a public school during the entire school year. The Code also permits, in certain cases, a person age seven to 16 who resides in a school district and who has been deemed a juvenile disorderly person to be assigned to an ungraded school or department based on three categories of pupils (i.e., children who are habitual truants; children who are incorrigibly turbulent and disobedient while attending school; and children who are not attending school and who habitually frequent streets and other public places). The bill would raise the mandatory attendance age under both of these provisions to the child's 18th birthday.

A parent or other person in parental relation who failed to comply Part 24 (Compulsory School Attendance) of the Code would be responsible for a civil infraction, punishable by a fine of $1 a day for each day of failure to comply, up to a maximum of $100, plus costs. Currently under the Code, a parent or other person in parental relation who fails to comply is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of at least $5 but not more than $50 and/or imprisonment for at least two days but not more than 90 days.

MCL 380.1561 - Legislative Analyst: L. Arasim

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would increase the cost of State and local government as described below.

Under current law, a school district receives a foundation allowance for each pupil in membership. A district's total foundation allowance revenue is equal to the foundation allowance per pupil multiplied by the full-time equivalent (FTE) pupil membership in the district. The local share of the foundation allowance is generally 18 mills levied on nonhomestead taxable property in the district. The remaining cost is paid by the State (except for districts with foundation allowances in excess of $6,962 per pupil in FY 1997-98, which must levy additional local millage to receive their entire foundation allowance).

The bill would not take effect until one year after enactment. The State fiscal impact, however, was estimated using foundation allowances for FY 1997-98 and pupil data from FY 1996-97. The foundation allowance appropriation for FY 1997-98 is $8,003,684,000. Pupil membership for FY 1997-98 is estimated at 1,677,000.

When fully implemented, requiring students to stay in school until age 18 would increase pupil membership by approximately 51,500 FTEs. This would increase the State cost of the foundation allowance by an estimated $305 million annually. The State School Aid Act appropriation for the foundation allowance would need to be increased to support the additional expenditures. If additional funding were not provided for the foundation allowance, payments to districts would be prorated by approximately 3.7%.

Assuming that the foundation allowance appropriation was increased to pay fully for the additional pupils, local districts would receive increased State foundation allowance payments. Local districts also would have increased operating costs due to the additional pupils. The impact on local school districts would vary depending on factors such as the amount of classroom space available for the additional students and whether enrollment in a district was generally increasing or decreasing.

- Fiscal Analyst: E. Pratt

S9798\S348SA

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.