HOUSE BILL No. 4337 February 25, 1999, Introduced by Reps. Birkholz, DeHart, Gosselin, Rick Johnson, Hart and Jamnick and referred to the Committee on Education. A bill to amend 1979 PA 94, entitled "The state school aid act of 1979," by amending section 101 (MCL 388.1701), as amended by 1998 PA 339. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: 1 Sec. 101. (1) To be eligible to receive state aid under 2 this act, not later than the fifth Wednesday after the pupil mem- 3 bership count day and not later than the fifth Wednesday after 4 the supplemental count day, each district superintendent through 5 the secretary of the district's board shall file with the inter- 6 mediate superintendent a certified and sworn copy of the number 7 of pupils enrolled and in regular daily attendance in the dis- 8 trict as of the pupil membership count day and as of the 9 supplemental count day, as applicable, for the current school 10 year. In addition, a district maintaining school during the 02090'99 TAV 2 1 entire CALENDAR year, asprovided underDESCRIBED IN section 215611561(1) of the revised school code, MCL 380.1561, shall 3 file with the intermediate superintendent a certified and sworn 4 copy of the number of pupils enrolled and in regular daily 5 attendance in the district for the current school year pursuant 6 to rules promulgated by the state board. Not later than the sev- 7 enth Wednesday after the pupil membership count day and not later 8 than the seventh Wednesday after the supplemental count day, the 9 intermediate district shall transmit to the department the data 10 filed by each of its constituent districts. If a district fails 11 to file the sworn and certified copy with the intermediate super- 12 intendent in a timely manner, as required under this subsection, 13 the intermediate district shall notify the department and state 14 aid due to be distributed under this act shall be withheld from 15 the defaulting district immediately, beginning with the next pay- 16 ment after the failure and continuing with each payment until the 17 district complies with this subsection. If an intermediate dis- 18 trict fails to transmit the data in its possession in a timely 19 and accurate manner to the department, as required under this 20 subsection, state aid due to be distributed under this act shall 21 be withheld from the defaulting intermediate district immediate- 22 ly, beginning with the next payment after the failure and con- 23 tinuing with each payment until the intermediate district com- 24 plies with this subsection. If a district or intermediate dis- 25 trict does not comply with this subsection by the end of the 26 fiscal year, the district or intermediate district forfeits the 27 amount withheld. A person who willfully falsifies a figure or 02090'99 3 1 statement in the certified and sworn copy of enrollment shall be 2 punished in the manner prescribed by section 161. 3 (2) To be eligible to receive state aid under this act, not 4 later than the twenty-fourth Wednesday after the pupil membership 5 count day and not later than the twenty-fourth Wednesday after 6 the supplemental count day, an intermediate district shall submit 7 to the department, in a form and manner prescribed by the depart- 8 ment, the audited enrollment and attendance data for the pupils 9 of its constituent districts and of the intermediate district. 10 If an intermediate district fails to transmit the audited data as 11 required under this subsection, state aid due to be distributed 12 under this act shall be withheld from the defaulting intermediate 13 district immediately, beginning with the next payment after the 14 failure and continuing with each payment until the intermediate 15 district complies with this subsection. If an intermediate dis- 16 trict does not comply with this subsection by the end of the 17 fiscal year, the intermediate district forfeits the amount 18 withheld. 19 (3) Each district shall provide the required minimum number 20 of days and hours of pupil instruction under section 1284 of the 21 revised school code, MCL 380.1284. Except as otherwise provided 22 in this act, a district failing to hold the required minimum 23 number of days of pupil instruction shall forfeit from its total 24 state aid allocation for each day of failure an amount determined 25 by applying a ratio of the number of days the district was in 26 noncompliance in relation to the required minimum number of 27 days. Except as otherwise provided in this act, a district 02090'99 4 1 failing to comply with the required minimum hours of pupil 2 instruction shall forfeit from its total state aid allocation an 3 amount determined by applying a ratio of the time duration the 4 district was in noncompliance in relation to the required minimum 5 number of hours. A district failing to meet both the minimum 6 number of days of pupil instruction requirement and the minimum 7 number of hours of pupil instruction requirement shall be pena- 8 lized only the higher of the 2 amounts calculated under the for- 9 feiture provisions of this subsection. Not later than August 1, 10 the board of each district shall certify to the department the 11 number of days and hours of pupil instruction in the previous 12 school year. If the district did not hold at least 180 days and 13 the required minimum number of hours of pupil instruction, the 14 deduction of state aid shall be made in the following fiscal year 15 from the first payment of state school aid. A district is not 16 subject to forfeiture of funds under this subsection for a fiscal 17 year in which a forfeiture was already imposed under subsection 18 (7). Days lost because of strikes or teachers' conferences shall 19 not be counted as days of pupil instruction. A district not 20 having at least 75% of the district's membership in attendance on 21 any day of pupil instruction shall receive state aid in that pro- 22 portion of 1 divided by the required minimum number of days of 23 pupil instruction that the actual percent of attendance bears to 24 the specified percentage. The state board shall promulgate rules 25 for the implementation of this subsection. 26 (4) The first 2 days for which pupil instruction is not 27 provided because of conditions not within the control of school 02090'99 5 1 authorities, such as severe storms, fires, epidemics, or health 2 conditions as defined by the city, county, or state health 3 authorities, shall be counted as days of pupil instruction. In 4 addition, for1997-981998-99 only, the department may count as 5 days of pupil instruction up to68 additional days for which 6 pupil instruction is not provided in a districtafter May 28,71998becausedamage or electrical outages resulting from8 severe storms prevented the district from providing instruction. 9and up to 2 additional days for which pupil instruction is not10provided in a district after June 3, 1998 because a bomb threat11prevented the district from providing instruction.Subsequent 12 such days shall not be counted as days of pupil instruction. 13 (5) A district shall not forfeit part of its state aid 14 appropriation because it adopts or has in existence an alterna- 15 tive scheduling program for pupils in kindergarten if the program 16 provides at least the number of hours required for a full-time 17 equated membership for a pupil in kindergarten as provided under 18 section 6(4). 19 (6) Upon application by the district for a particular fiscal 20 year, the state board may waive the minimum number of days of 21 pupil instruction requirement of subsection (3) for a district if 22 the district has adopted an experimental school year schedule in 23 1 or more buildings in the district if the experimental school 24 year schedule provides AT LEAST the required minimum numberor25moreOF hours of pupil instruction and is consistent with all 26 state board policies on school improvement and restructuring. If 27 a district applies for and receives a waiver under this 02090'99 6 1 subsection and complies with the terms of the waiver, for the 2 fiscal year covered by the waiver the district is not subject to 3 forfeiture under this section of part of its state aid allocation 4 for the specific building or program covered by the waiver. 5 (7) Not later than April 15 of each fiscal year, the board 6 of each district shall certify to the department the planned 7 number of days and hours of pupil instruction in the district for 8 the school year ending in the fiscal year. In addition to any 9 other penalty or forfeiture under this section, if at any time 10 the department determines that 1 or more of the following has 11 occurred in a district, the district shall forfeit in the current 12 fiscal year beginning in the next payment to be calculated by the 13 department a proportion of the funds due to the district under 14 this act that is equal to the proportion below the required mini- 15 mum number of days and hours of pupil instruction, as specified 16 in the following: 17 (a) The district fails to operate its schools for at least 18 the required minimum number of days and hours of pupil instruc- 19 tion in a school year, including days counted under subsection 20 (4). 21 (b) The board of the district takes formal action not to 22 operate its schools for at least the required minimum number of 23 days and hours of pupil instruction in a school year, including 24 days counted under subsection (4). 25 (8) In providing the minimum number of hours of pupil 26 instruction required under section 1284 of the revised school 27 code, MCL 380.1284, a district shall use the following 02090'99 7 1 guidelines, and a district shall maintain records to substantiate 2 its compliance with the following guidelines: 3 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a pupil 4 must be scheduled for at least the required minimum number of 5 hours of instruction, excluding study halls, or at least the sum 6 of 90 hours plus the required minimum number of hours of instruc- 7 tion, including up to 2 study halls. 8 (b) The time a pupil is assigned to any tutorial activity in 9 a block schedule may be considered instructional time, unless 10 that time is determined in an audit to be a study hall period. 11 (c) A pupil in grades 9 to 12 for whom a reduced schedule is 12 determined to be in the individual pupil's best educational 13 interest must be scheduled for a number of hours equal to at 14 least 80% of the required minimum number of hours of pupil 15 instruction to be considered a full-time equivalent pupil. 16 (d) If a pupil in grades 9 to 12 who is enrolled in a coop- 17 erative education program or a special education pupil cannot 18 receive the required minimum number of hours of pupil instruction 19 solely because of travel time between instructional sites during 20 the school day, that travel time, up to a maximum of 2-1/2 hours 21 per school week, shall be considered to be pupil instruction time 22 for the purpose of determining whether the pupil is receiving the 23 required minimum number of hours of pupil instruction. However, 24 if a district demonstrates to the satisfaction of the department 25 that the travel time limitation under this subdivision would 26 create undue costs or hardship to the district, the department 02090'99 8 1 may consider more travel time to be pupil instruction time for 2 this purpose. 3(e) For the 1997-98 school year only, if a district oper-4ates an elementary school that is located on an island and pro-5vides some pupil instruction for pupils enrolled in that elemen-6tary school at 1 or more school buildings operated by the dis-7trict that are not located on the island, the travel time for8travel for those pupils between the elementary school located on9the island and the other school building or buildings, up to a10maximum of 1-1/2 hours per school week, shall be considered to be11pupil instruction time for those pupils for the purpose of deter-12mining whether those pupils are receiving the required minimum13number of hours of pupil instruction.14 (9) The department shall apply the guidelines under subsec- 15 tion (8) in calculating the full-time equivalency of pupils. 16 (10) Upon application by the district for a particular 17 fiscal year, the state board may waive for a district the minimum 18 number of days and hours of pupil instruction requirement of sub- 19 section (3) for a department-approved alternative education 20 program. If a district applies for and receives a waiver under 21 this subsection and complies with the terms of the waiver, for 22 the fiscal year covered by the waiver the district is not subject 23 to forfeiture under this section for the specific program covered 24 by the waiver. 02090'99 Final page. TAV