State of the State Address Sets The Tone for 2019-2020 Session
Governor Whitmer delivered her first State of the State address this past Tuesday, laying out a broad vision of her priorities going forward and unofficially kicking off the new legislative session. As expected, the Governor focused primarily on her desire to address what she termed as crises in school and road funding. With respect to the former, the Governor cited the recent MSU study comparing inflation-adjusted school funding in Michigan to other states as an example of our broken school funding system. On road funding, she reiterated that Michigan roads and infrastructure have been graded as worst in the nation. However, while calling for more attention on both issues, she did not release details but rather reiterated that neither issue would be fixed overnight and that more concrete proposals would be laid out in her upcoming budget proposal on March 5.
Governor Whitmer did propose five major new initiatives in the address as follows:
Seeking to join 16 other states in adopting hands-free driving laws,
Expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act,
A new statewide goal of increasing the number of Michiganders with postsecondary credentials to 60% by 2030,
Establishing a Michigan Opportunity Scholarship offering two paths to helping graduating high school students obtain a postsecondary credential, including two years of tuition-free education at community colleges, and
Michigan Reconnect, a similar initiative aimed at creating tuition-free pathways for Michigan high school graduates 25 and older without a Bachelor’s or Associate’s Degree.
Video of the address an accompanying materials such as fact sheets and the full text of the address are available for your review here:
Committee Action Update
The House Education and Senate Education and Career Readiness Committees did not meet this week. House Education will be meeting next Tuesday to consider House Bill 4162, sponsored by Rep. John Reilly (R-Oakland Twp.), which would prohibit MDE from requiring administration of an assessment of a pupil’s reading or math abilities in a manner intended to allow employers to utilize such information in making employment decisions.
The House School Aid and MDE Appropriations Subcommittee heard a short presentation by the House Fiscal Agency reviewing the basics of what MDE does and how the Department operates, while the Senate K-12 and MDE Appropriations Subcommittee did not meet.
Bill Introductions of Interest
House Bill 4195
, introduced by Rep. Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores) would require MDE to create guidelines for school district policies and training concerning child sexual abuse.
House Bill 4174
, introduced by Rep. Ben Frederick (R-Owosso) would amend the Proprietary Schools Act to exempt certain apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeship programs.
Senate Bill 113
, introduced by Sen. Jim Ananich (D-Flint) would amend the School Aid Act to allow school days missed due to the recent winter weather emergency declared by the Governor between January 29 and February 2 to count as instructional days.
