AFTER-SCHOOL SAFETY
PROGRAMS; TOBACCO
SETTLEMENT FUNDS
House Bill 4740
Sponsor: Rep. Gilda Jacobs
Committee: Education
Complete to 6-4-99
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4740 AS INTRODUCED 5-27-99
House Bill 4740 would amend the Revised School Code to provide financial incentives to school districts that offered conflict resolution programs and after-school safety programs to their students. The incentives--a $5 per pupil payment for conflict resolution programs, and an after-school safety grant program--would be paid for with a portion of the state's tobacco settlement revenue awarded by the final judgment entered on December 7, 1998 in Kelly ex rel. Michigan v Philip Morris Incorporated, et al. Under the bill, the legislature would appropriate payments for the incentives, and funding for the grants each year under the State School Aid Act.
Conflict Resolution Program. Specifically, House Bill 4740 specifies that if the board of a school district or the board of directors of a public school academy incorporates conflict resolution into its curriculum at all grade levels, the district would be eligible for a state school aid incentive payment equal to $5 per pupil. The bill would require that the conflict resolution program be designed to improve students' dispute management and resolution skills, and to decrease violent behavior. It could include peer mediation or similar techniques for peaceful dispute resolution.
After School Safety Program. In addition, House Bill 4740 would establish an After School Safety Program in the Department of Education. The program would provide grants to school districts and public school academies (customarily called charter schools) to provide structured and supervised activities at school for high school and middle school students, outside regular school hours. A school district that received a grant would be required to use the money to provide nonathletic extracurricular programs for pupil in grades six to 12. The program also would be required to operate beginning at the end of the school day and lasting until 7 p.m., at a minimum, and it could operate on weekends and other times school is not in session. Further, the bill would require that each After School Safety Program be appropriately supervised and it stipulates that any program could include, but would not be limited to, computer, music, drama, dance, art, or recreational programs.
Under the bill, a school district or public school academy could apply for an After-School Safety Program grant by submitting an application to the Department of Education, and that application would have to include a description of the programs that would be provided. The department would be required to award a grant to each school district that proposed a program meeting the requirements, and if the funds appropriated were insufficient, the department would be required to award grants to each eligible district on an equal per pupil basis according to the amount appropriated. Under the bill, a school district could seek and accept funds from other sources to operate the programs.
MCL 380.1305 and 380.1306
Analyst: J. Hunault