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STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Superintendent of Public Instruction Contract Extended
At it’s March 13, 2007 meeting, the State Board of Education unanimously voted to extend the contract of Michael P. Flanagan, Superintendent of Public Instruction,  for one year.  This extends his current contract, which will now expire in 2010.  The Board President stated that the entire board was very pleased by Mr. Flanagan’s leadership and performance as Superintendent of Public Instruction

English Language Arts Units of Instruction
The Board reviewed samples of English Language Arts Course Content Units and the Career and Technical Education English Language Arts Units that have been developed by the Michigan Department of Education.  The Department stressed that the units were designed to be flexible so that teachers could adapt them to the needs of their students.
They will soon be released for classroom use.

MEAP Labels
The Michigan Department of Education, partly in response to community colleges and other group’s objections of the use of “apprentice” to describe a level of performance on the MEAP test, came up with new suggested labels to reflect the level of student proficiency: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Below Basic.  This was an informational item on the Board agenda as voting on the final decision will occur at the April Board meeting.  The Board members suggested other labels and the Department will consider additional changes.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Reauthorization
The State Board of Education is developing suggested recommended changes to the current NCLB legislation as it will be coming up for reauthorization.  They discussed progress on the document to date and will continue to work on the document. 
When the document is finalized, Michigan ASCD will share it with the membership.

Budget
The Michigan House and Senate are devoting much of their time to the budget.  To date, the Executive recommendations have been made public.  Although the Republicans claim to also have a budget proposal, they have not revealed it to the public as of this date.
A summary and analysis of the Executive budget recommendations are on the Michigan ASCD website homepage: michigan.ascd.org

Cost Overruns
SB 0184 (introduced) is in response to three departments of the state government over spending their budgets in the last fiscal year.  The bill would require that the Senate Budget Office submit a report to the legislature summarizing the line items in each of the government departments that is being over spent.

Lobbying Limitations
HB 4313 (introduced) prohibits legislatures from lobbying for one year after leaving office.  Currently, some legislators become lobbyists immediately upon leaving office.

Related to this, HB 4315 prohibits legislators from voting on legislative bills when they have a conflict of interest with the bills being voted on.

Bullying and Harassment
As introduced, HB 4162 would require the board of a school district or a public school academy to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment or bullying at school.  The bill recommends that the policy be adopted through a process that includes representation of parents or guardians, school employees, students, volunteers, school administers, and community representatives.  The content of the policy is specified in the bill.  To assist school districts in developing the content, the Department of Education would be required to issue a model policy no later than June 1, 2007.  The department would also be required to develop appropriate procedures for investigating, reporting and responding to violations by a school district or public school, including an incident report.  Training for school employees is also included.

An identical bill, SB 0107, has been offered in the Senate.  Hearings are planned for the House bill this week.

Post Secondary Education
The Senate Education Committee has been listening to presentations from various university officials and asked questions concerning the adequate preparation of students for college and the retention rate of students once they have entered college.

Surprise Move
In an unexpected move, House Speaker Dillon proposed a $3 million cut in the House budget in an effort to “share the budget sacrifices."

Included were 1) cutting current staff positions within the House, 2) Increase monthly health care co-pay for Representatives, their staffs, and other legislative workers, 3) ban the use of out-of-state travel, and 4) end life time health coverage for NEW state representatives once they leave office.

President Bush’s Budget Proposal
President Bush’s 2008 budget proposal would cut the state’s federal funding at a minimum of $959.6 million by 2012 according to the Washington D.C. based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities study. Elementary and secondary education cuts would reduce the amount of federal funds flowing to Michigan by $221.1 million between 2008-2012, and an additional one time cut in 2012 of $67.1 million.  Bush claims that if these cuts are approved for every state that the federal budget could be balanced by 2012.  Other cuts include the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) ($24 million in 2008 and $136 million in 2008-2012) and state and local law enforcement grants ($18.3 million in 2008 and $94.7 million in 2008-2012).

Head Start Reauthorization
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy made the reauthorization of Head Start a priority for the 110th Congress, and reported from his committee on February 14, S. 556, The Head Start for School Readiness Act.  The reauthorization languished in the previous Congress, mired in church-state politics, and the role that faith-based organizations would play in this early childhood program.

The bill expands coverage for head start by extending eligibility to children from families with an income of up to 130 percent of poverty.  It doubles the set aside for Early Head Start from 10 percent to 20 percent by the year 2010.  The migrant program portion is set at up to 5 percent, with the Indian portion at a minimum of 4 percent.

Interesting

“Michigan lobbyists increased their spending on 2006 lobbying activities by 28% more than they spent in the last gubernatorial election.  The total was $29.9 million.

“Lobbying expenditures are following the same growth path as campaign finance spending.  The money-in-politics sector is growing at a rate that beats any other industry you can name in Michigan,” said Rich Robinson, Director, Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

Michigan ASCD Workshop

Every Child Counts: Closing the Achievement Gap in Sub-Groups
May 9, 2007, Genesee ISD

Keynote Speaker: Sue Nelle DeHart, Aha!Process Inc.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty

The Program:
Hear from a nationally recognized expert and Michigan educators on successful strategies for closing the achievement gap with all students, but with particular emphasis with those defined in the various sub-groups of the No Child Left and Education Yes!. Research-based solutions along with schools that have been successful in narrowing the achievement gap will be presented. Included will be a discussion of updated assessment tools and strategies.

Breakout topics include:

• Evidence-based strategies for accelerating student achievement
• Use of data to inform and lead instruction
• Strategies for English language learners
• Best practices for special education students
• Language development and balanced literacy
• Update on Education Yes!
• Parent and community involvement
• Job embedded professional development
• Parent and community involvement
• Cultural and linguistic diversity
• Success stories from schools
• Updates form the Office of School Improvement

Hours:

This workshop is expected to run from 8am until 3:30pm.

This workshop includes lunch.

Cost:

Individual Registration:

$100 Michigan ASCD Member

$175 Michigan ASCD Non-Member (Includes an annual Michigan ASCD Membership)

District Team Registration:

If one member of a district team is a Michigan ASCD member, the entire team can register at Michigan ASCD member cost, $100 each.

If no member of a district team is a Michigan ASCD member, one member of the team must register as a Michigan ASCD non-member, at $175 (Including an annual Michigan ASCD Membership), and the remaining team members can register at Michigan ASCD member cost, $100 each.

District Team Registrations cannot be submitted online.  The entire team registrations must be faxed together to fax # 517.327.0771.  One registration form, per team member, please.

Printable Registration Form                            Register Online

Genesee ISD:

2413 West Maple Avenue
Flint, MI
48507

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