MASSP News Center

SERVICE REPEAL/BUSINESS TAX SURCHARGE PASSES HOUSE
On a 58 to 48 vote the House passed HB 5408, legislation that would repeal the services tax adopted a few weeks ago and replace it with a surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax (MBT).Under HB 5408 the surcharge would be 32.9 percent through 2008, and fall to 23.7 […]

Learn more on this topic from Lisa Swem, our lawyer expert, at the MASSP AP Fall Conference! 
The Supreme Court has expanded the principal’s authority to censor student messages. The court ruled that school administrators can censor students they reasonably believe advocate pro-drug messages.
A high school principal who disciplined a student for displaying a banner […]

School districts within a common intermediate school district (ISD) would be required to share a common class calendar under legislation that passed the Senate, 20-17, this morning.
Starting with the 2008-09 school year, the legislation would require all school districts within the same ISD to keep the same winter break, spring break and professional development […]

Entry Deadline is October 1, 2007
AARP is pleased to announce the creation of The Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Award for Innovation. A $10,000 prize will be awarded to one public secondary school (grades 8 - 12) in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands in recognition of an innovative […]

Representatives George Miller and Howard “Buck” McKeon, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and Labor, released a staff discussion draft of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This draft was developed through input received at nearly two dozen Congressional hearings and many discussions with education organizations and concerned […]

When the state mandated that schools get background checks on employees before hiring them without increasing funding, it didn’t violate the Headlee Amendment, the Court of Appeals ruled in a published per curium decision released Wednesday.
In dismissing the case of 465 taxpayers against the state, (Owczarek v. State of Michigan, COA, docket No. 273322), judges […]

Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM joined leaders from the Genesee Early College, the Genesee Intermediate School District and the University of Michigan-Flint for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Genesee Early College. The school is one of six across the state planned as a result of a Granholm proposal and bills she signed into law in […]

A former lawmaker who helped balance the state’s out-of-whack budgets in the early 1980s said today that Michigan’s current fiscal crisis is worse than any he ever dealt with in his 22 years in the Legislature.
Lynn JONDAHL, who chaired the House Taxation Committee for 12 years, said the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 budget crisis is […]

The reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act presents a critical opportunity to advance national middle level policy and help raise student achievement in the middle grades. The middle grades are a crucial piece of the educational pipeline because students must be proficient in reading and math to be successful in the rigorous […]

School Law Matters
By Marshall Grate, Clark Hill PLC
In a decision issued in March of 2007, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the home addresses and telephone numbers of public employees were subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), even when public employees requested that this information be kept confidential. Michigan Federation […]

The Chair of the House Education Committee has scheduled October 9th as the date to address the end-of-course testing issue in Senate Bill 403.
SB 403 was supposed to be a technical clean-up for transfer students through a personal curriculum plan to get access to a high school diploma with less than the MI Merit Standard. […]

Teacher retention is a persistent issue in school improvement. While it is true that some degree of teacher turnover in schools is both healthy and inevitable, the exodus of large numbers of teachers over time diminishes the overall capacity of a school to serve its students. In addition, it creates new problems related to recruiting […]

Proposal for weapons in schools strikes a nerve
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By Ken Kolker
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS — Should teachers and principals be allowed to carry guns on the job?
Response to that question surprised James Ballard, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, when he sent an e-mail survey to the state’s […]

By Jim Ballard
MASSP […]

Texas lawmakers approved mandatory random steroid testing of high-school athletes. The governor is expected to sign the bill. A legislative sponsor predicts kids will be suspended if they test positive or refuse to be tested. New Jersey already tests high-school athletes statewide; Florida has a limited pilot program. Activists say they’ll push other states to […]

Middle level school leaders will receive an invitation to join our 6 Michigan Trainers as certified Breaking Ranks in the Middle™ trainers. Look for the registration email to arrive in your email box this Monday, June 4th.
The Training of Trainers Workshop will be held July 24-26 2007 here at the MELG Building in […]

There are no log cabins, bonfires or morning baths in the lake. Students sleep in dorms, eat in a cafeteria and have community bathrooms. Nonetheless, it’s CAMP! Leadership Camp, that is.
MASSP’s student-oriented organizations, the Michigan Associations of Student Councils & Honor Societies (MASC/MAHS) put on two leadership camps each year – one […]

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings Faces Tough Test in NCLB Reauthorization Fight
STANFORD — Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is likely to be facing the fight of her career when the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) takes center stage in the coming months. Her “do what it takes” practicality may be one of […]

FROM THE COMMITTEES ON EDUCATION AND LABOR 
Co-Sponsor the State and Local Flexibility Improvement Act
Dear Colleague,
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has granted states and local leaders an unprecedented level of control when it comes to educating their […]

Editorial Note: This is a long article, but worth reading in its entirety. These bills affect anyone retiring after June 30, 2008!–Jim
The debate over paring future school employee health care costs was aired in both chambers Wednesday, with a party line vote in the Senate Education Committee moving to the full Senate two bills […]

On a vote of 58-45, the House passed HB 4799 which would ban public school employees from retiring, then coming back to work for the school contractually to then receive a pension and a salary at the same time. The bill, if enacted, would go into effect starting January 1, 2008. […]

More than half of the state’s current $800 million budget shortfall would be wiped out through securitization of future tobacco dollars and supplementation of general fund monies from the Merit Award Trust Fund with those from the Higher Education Student Loan Authority - two main parts of leadership’s solution to the budget deficit - under […]