Education “Best Practices” Unveiled

The Snyder Administration and Republican legislative leaders previously announced a plan to soften the hit to school districts in the FY 2012 budget by setting aside $154 million for districts to obtain (in the form of an additional $100 per pupil) if the district delivers on four out of five best practices. Those five criteria were revealed during the hearing on the conference report on the K-12 budget by the House-Senate conference committee Tuesday. They are:

1.) Develop a public “dashboard” of performance measurements for the district, including graduation and drop-out rates.

2.) Health insurance policies held by the school district

3.) Minimum 10% employee contribution for health insurance premiums

4.) Obtain a competitive bid on a minimum of one non-instructional service contract of more than $50,000

5.) The Continuation or implementation of consolidation plans

The criteria regarding health insurance policies being held by the school districts has caused some immediate heartburn among Democratic lawmakers and, most obviously, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) whose health insurance spin-off MESSA (Michigan Education Special Services Association) provides insurance to an estimated 45-percent of the market.

In related news, the higher education budget was passed including boilerplate language that may be headed for veto by Governor Snyder. The issues, viewed by some as attempt by conservatives to forward a social agenda through the budget process, are:

Requiring Michigan’s public universities to issue reports on embryonic stem cell research
Urging the institutions not to offer benefits to domestic partner, and
Requiring the accommodation of students’ religious beliefs in counseling programs

posted by PAA Online , Friday, May 27, 2011 10:05 AM
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