This Week in Politics in Five Sentences (or Fewer)

Although no deal has been announced, the rumors around Lansing indicate that a late night session on Wednesday is expected and that Senate leadership and the Governor’s office are pushing to have a final deal on the MPSERS reform bill completed this week. At this point, it looks as though two possible versions of the bill are on the table: the H-3 version that passed the House last month and a new hybrid version that marries the House-passed bill and the Senate-passed bill and provides for both pre-funding of retiree health care and a switch to a defined contribution retirement system for new employees. In other news, Governor Snyder’s office has called a meeting for this Tuesday with a broad group of education stakeholders to discuss a potentially massive overhaul of the School Aid Act and a change in how money flows to local schools. The potential scope of this project and its implications at the building level are not clear, but we expect more information to be available after Tuesday’s meeting and members can expect regular updates as this process moves forward. Finally, MDE held a meeting last week with education groups to review their latest ESEA waiver application and discuss what it could mean for schools, MASSP will continue to keep you updated on the status of Michigan's waiver.