HOUSE BILL No. 4385 February 26, 1997, Introduced by Rep. Profit and referred to the Committee on Appropriations. A bill to amend 1979 PA 94, entitled "The state school aid act of 1979," by amending section 31a (MCL 388.1631a), as amended by 1996 PA 300. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Sec. 31a. (1) From the appropriation in section 11, there 2 is allocated for 1996-97 an amount not to exceed $230,000,000.00 3 for payments to eligible districts and eligible public school 4 academies under this section. Subject to subsection (11), the 5 amount of the additional allowance under this section shall be 6 based on the number of actual pupils in membership in the dis- 7 trict or public school academy who met the income eligibility 8 criteria for free breakfast, lunch, or milk in the immediately 9 preceding state fiscal year, as determined under the national 10 school lunch act, chapter 281, 60 Stat. 230, 42 U.S.C. 1751 to 02189'97 TAV 2 1 1753, 1755 to 1761, 1762a, 1765 to 1766b, and 1769 to 1769h, and 2 reported to the department by December 31 of the immediately pre- 3 ceding fiscal year. However, for a public school academy that 4 began operations as a public school academy after the pupil mem- 5 bership count day of the immediately preceding school year, the 6 basis for the additional allowance under this section shall be 7 the number of actual pupils in membership in the public school 8 academy who met the income eligibility criteria for free break- 9 fast, lunch, or milk in the current state fiscal year, as deter- 10 mined under the national school lunch act. 11 (2) To be eligible to receive funding under this section, a 12 district or public school academy that has not been previously 13 determined to be eligible shall apply to the department, in a 14 form and manner prescribed by the department, and a district or 15 public school academy must meet all of the following: 16 (a) The district's or public school academy's combined state 17 and local revenue per membership pupil in the current state 18 fiscal year, as calculated under section 20, is less than or 19 equal to $6,500.00 adjusted by the dollar amount of the differ- 20 ence between the basic foundation allowance under section 20 for 21 the current state fiscal year and $5,000.00. 22 (b) The district or public school academy agrees to use the 23 funding only for purposes allowed under this section and to 24 comply with the program and accountability requirements under 25 this section. 26 (3) An eligible district or eligible public school academy 27 shall receive under this section for each membership pupil in the 02189'97 3 1 district or public school academy who met the income eligibility 2 criteria for free breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under 3 the national school lunch act and as reported to the department 4 by October 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year and 5 adjusted not later than December 31 of the immediately preceding 6 fiscal year, an amount per pupil equal to 11.5% of the district's 7 foundation allowance, not to exceed $6,500.00 adjusted by the 8 dollar amount of the difference between the basic foundation 9 allowance under section 20 for the current state fiscal year and 10 $5,000.00, or of the public school academy's per membership pupil 11 allocation under section 20 for the current state fiscal year. 12 However, a public school academy that began operations as a 13 public school academy after the pupil membership count day of the 14 immediately preceding school year shall receive under this sec- 15 tion for each membership pupil in the public school academy who 16 met the income eligibility criteria for free breakfast, lunch, or 17 milk, as determined under the national school lunch act and as 18 reported to the department by October 31 of the current fiscal 19 year and adjusted not later than December 31 of the current 20 fiscal year, an amount per pupil equal to 11.5% of the public 21 school academy's per membership pupil allocation under section 20 22 for the current state fiscal year. 23 (4) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a district 24 or public school academy receiving funding under this section 25 shall use that money only to provide instructional programs and 26 direct noninstructional services, including, but not limited to, 27 medical or counseling services, for at-risk pupils and for the 02189'97 4 1 purposes of subsection (5) and shall not use any of that money 2 for administrative costs or to supplant funds, except for funds 3 allocated to the district or public school academy under this 4 section in the immediately preceding year and already being used 5 by the district or public school academy for at-risk pupils. The 6 instruction or direct noninstructional services provided under 7 this section may be conducted before or after regular school 8 hours or by adding extra school days to the school year and may 9 be conducted using a tutorial method, with paraprofessionals 10 working under the supervision of a certificated teacher. The 11 ratio of pupils to paraprofessionals shall be between 10:1 and 12 15:1. Only 1 certificated teacher is required to supervise 13 instruction using a tutorial method. 14 (5) A district or public school academy that receives funds 15 under this section and that operates a school breakfast program 16 under section 1272a of the revised school code,being17section 380.1272a of the Michigan Compiled LawsMCL 380.1272A, 18 shall use from those funds an amount, not to exceed $10.00 per 19 pupil for whom the district or public school academy receives 20 funds under this section, necessary to operate the school break- 21 fast program. 22 (6) In order to provide accountability for the program 23 funded under this section, the superintendent of a district or 24 chief executive of a public school academy shall submit to the 25 department, in a succinct form and manner prescribed by the 26 department, a written assurance of the district's or public 27 school academy's compliance with all provisions of this section 02189'97 5 1 by May 20 of the current fiscal year. In addition, each district 2 or public school academy receiving funds under this section shall 3 submit to the department by that date a report, not to exceed 10 4 pages, on the usage by the district or public school academy of 5 funds under this section, which report shall include at least a 6 brief description of each program conducted by the district or 7 public school academy using funds under this section, the amount 8 of funds under this section allocated to each of those programs, 9 and the number of at-risk pupils served by each of those 10 programs. If a district or public school academy does not comply 11 with this subsection, the department shall withhold an amount 12 equal to the June payment due under this section until the dis- 13 trict or public school academy complies with this subsection. If 14 the district or public school academy does not comply with this 15 subsection by the end of the state fiscal year, the withheld 16 funds shall be forfeited to the school aid fund. 17 (7) In order to receive funds under this section, a district 18 or public school academy shall allow access for the department or 19 the department's designee to audit all records related to the 20 program for which it receives those funds. The district or 21 public school academy shall reimburse the state for all disallow- 22 ances found in the audit. 23 (8) Subject to subsection (5), any district may use up to 24 100% of the funds it receives under this section to reduce the 25 ratio of pupils to teachers in grades K-6, or any combination of 26 those grades, in school buildings in which the percentage of 27 pupils described in subsection (1) exceeds the district's 02189'97 6 1 aggregate percentage of those pupils. Subject to subsection (5), 2 if a district obtains a waiver from the department, the district 3 may use up to 100% of the funds it receives under this section to 4 reduce the ratio of pupils to teachers in grades K-6, or any com- 5 bination of those grades, in school buildings in which the per- 6 centage of pupils described in subsection (1) is at least 60% of 7 the district's aggregate percentage of those pupils and at least 8 35% of the total number of pupils enrolled in the school 9 building. To obtain a waiver, a district must apply to the 10 department and demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department 11 that the class size reductions would be in the best interests of 12 the district's at-risk pupils. 13 (9) As a pilot project for a period of 3 fiscal years, a 14 district that is located in a county with a population of more 15 than 350,000 and less than 480,000 and that has more than 10,000 16 pupils in membership shall expend funds received under this sec- 17 tion, other than the amount described in subsection (5), attrib- 18 utable to pupils enrolled in grades K-3 for the purpose of reduc- 19 ing class size in grades K-3 in the district to an average of not 20 more than 17 pupils per class, with not more than 19 pupils in 21 any particular class, in each school building in the district in 22 which pupils described in subsection (1) constitute a specified 23 percentage of the total number of pupils in the building. That 24 specified percentage is as follows: 25 (a) For the 1994-95 school year, 59%. 26 (b) For the 1995-96 school year, 50%. 02189'97 7 1 (c) For the 1996-97 school year, 25%. 2 (10) A district or public school academy may use funds 3 received under this section for adult high school completion, 4 general education development (G.E.D.) test preparation, or 5 adult basic education programs described in section 107. 6 (11) If necessary, and before any proration required under 7 section 11, the department shall prorate payments under this sec- 8 tion by reducing the amount of the per pupil payment under this 9 section by a dollar amount calculated by determining the amount 10 by which the amount necessary to fully fund the requirements of 11 this section exceeds the maximum amount allocated under this sec- 12 tion and then dividing that amount by the total statewide number 13 of pupils who met the income eligibility criteria for free break- 14 fast, lunch, or milk in the immediately preceding fiscal year, as 15 described in subsection (1). 16 (12) If a district is formed by consolidation after June 1, 17 1995, and if 1 or more of the original districts was not eligible 18 before the consolidation for an additional allowance under this 19 section, the amount of the additional allowance under this sec- 20 tion for the consolidated district shall be based on the number 21 of pupils described in subsection (1) enrolled in the consoli- 22 dated district who reside in the territory of an original dis- 23 trict that was eligible before the consolidation for an addi- 24 tional allowance under this section. 25 (13) As used in this section, "at-risk pupil" means a pupil 26 for whom the district has documentation that the pupil meets at 27 least21 of the following criteria: is a victim of child 02189'97 8 1 abuse or neglect; is below grade level in English language and 2 communication skills or mathematics; IS LEARNING DISABLED; IS 3 BILINGUAL; is a pregnant teenager or teenage parent; is eligible 4 for a federal free or reduced-price lunch subsidy; has atypical 5 behavior or attendance patterns; or has a family history of 6 school failure, incarceration, or substance abuse. For pupils 7 for whom the results of at least the applicable MEAP test have 8 been received, at-risk pupil also includes a pupil who does not 9 meet the other criteria under this subsection but who did not 10 achieve at least a score of moderate on the most recent MEAP 11 reading test for which results for the pupil have been received, 12 did not achieve at least a score of moderate on the most recent 13 MEAP mathematics test for which results for the pupil have been 14 received, or achieved less than 50% of the objectives on the most 15 recent MEAP science test for which results for the pupil have 16 been received. For pupils in grades K-3, at-risk pupil also 17 includes a pupil who is at risk of not meeting the district's 18 core academic curricular objectives in English language, communi- 19 cation skills, or mathematics. 02189'97 Final page. TAV