Bill to expand reform school district is in race against clock
Session expected to wrap up today
By Paul Egan Free Press Lansing Bureau
LANSING — Lawmakers and interest groups were still revising a bill Wednesday to formalize and expand the Education Achievement Authority for poorly performing schools as the Legislature approached the end of its lame duck session.
It wasn’t clear whether the bill would pass in what remains of the legislative session, which was expected to wrap up today. The Legislature meets Tuesday through Thursday.
Though there is a chance the Legislature could return next week, “we’re going to try to wrap up this week, rather than go into next week,” Ari Adler, a spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, said Wednesday.
In a sign of progress for the bill, the Michigan Association of School Administrators shifted its position from opposed to neutral after intensive talks with representatives of Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders, Don Wotruba, the group’s director of government relations, said Wednesday.
However, individual school administrators still oppose the legislation and are free to do so, Wotruba said.
The legislation codifies and expands the EAA, which was created in 2011 and already includes 15 academically struggling schools that were part of the Detroit Public Schools.
It is estimated that more than 20 other poorly performing schools in the state meet the EAA criteria because they have been in the bottom 5% of academic performance for three consecutive years.
The Snyder administration says the EAA is designed to provide individualized instruction to struggling students who need it.
“We’ve waited long enough for some of these kids,” Greg Tedder, a strategic adviser to Snyder, said at one hearing about the bill.
The latest version of the bill would cap the number of schools in the EAA at 50. It includes a strategy for schools to leave the special district. It also provides for certain schools that would otherwise meet the criteria to stay in their regular school districts if it’s believed that gives them the best chance to improve, said Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, the bill sponsor and chairwoman of the House Education Committee.
The bill restores requirements for MEAP testing, which was excluded from an earlier version of the bill.
The committee adjourned Wednesday without voting on the bill.
“I’m glad the testing is back in, but there are still many sections of the school code that are not included,” said Rep. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield.
Those include provisions for school lunches and school transportation, she said.
Rep. Rudy Hobbs, D-Lathrup Village, said the bill remains “really weak in terms of accountability” and judging performance.
Democrats also expressed concerns about provisions for charter schools in the EAA.
• CONTACT PAUL EGAN: 517-372-8660 OR PEGAN@FREEPRESS.COM
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