Bill Text: MI HB5240 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Education; school districts; instruction in certain United States historical information; require, and require the "Pledge of Allegiance" to be recited each day. Amends secs. 1278, 1279g & 1347 of 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1278 et seq.) & adds secs. 1167 & 1259.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 23-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-17 - Printed Bill Filed 01/13/2012 [HB5240 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-HB5240-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL No. 5240
January 11, 2012, Introduced by Reps. Agema, MacMaster, Genetski, McMillin, Somerville, Callton, Olson, Franz, Horn, Rendon, Opsommer, Pettalia, Huuki, Crawford, Johnson, Rogers, Denby, Jenkins, Heise, Goike, Hooker, Haveman and Daley and referred to the Committee on Education.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending sections 1278, 1279g, and 1347 (MCL 380.1278,
380.1279g, and 380.1347), section 1278 as amended by 2004 PA 596
and section 1279g as amended by 2008 PA 349, and by adding sections
1167 and 1259.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1167. (1) The board of a school district or board of
directors of a public school academy shall ensure that instruction
that focuses on the following topics is provided during the school
year in a grade- and age-level appropriate manner for all of its
pupils in grades K to 12:
(a) That the declaration of independence states "We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.".
(b) That the purpose of government is to protect and ensure
the unalienable rights of the people.
(c) The structure of government, including, but not limited
to, the concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances.
(d) The founding principles of the United States, including at
least all of the following principles:
(i) Federalism as clearly defined in the United States and
Michigan constitutions.
(ii) The entire bill of rights.
(iii) Private property rights and freedom of individual
enterprise.
(iv) The contents of the declaration of independence, the
constitution of the United States, and all amendments to the
constitution of the United States.
(v) Constitutional limitations on government's power to tax
and spend, and the constitutional requirement for government to
fully and properly account for the use of all public money and
prompt payment of public debt, as enumerated in the United States
and Michigan constitutions.
(vi) The right of the people to keep and bear arms, and the
principles of a strong defense capability and supremacy of civil
authority over the military.
(vii) Sovereignty and how it flows from the consent of the
governed to their elected representatives under the constitution,
and the creation and maintenance of the United States as a
sovereign nation.
(viii) As stated in section 1 of article I of the state
constitution of 1963, all political power is inherent in the
people. Government is instituted for their equal benefit, security,
and protection.
(2) In order to encourage a school culture that respects and
values our civic heritage, the board of a school district or
intermediate school district or board of directors of a public
school academy shall allow and encourage any public school teacher,
educator, or administrator to read or post in a public school
building, in a classroom, or at any public school event excerpts or
portions of writings, documents, and records that reflect the
history of the United States, including, but not limited to, any of
the following:
(a) The declaration of independence.
(b) The constitution of the United States.
(c) The federalist papers.
(d) The anti-federalist papers.
(e) The bill of rights.
(f) The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States.
(g) The Northwest ordinances.
(3) A school district or public school academy, and its
professional school personnel, may develop curricula and materials
for the instruction required under this section that are aligned
with the state board recommended model core academic curriculum
content standards developed under section 1278 and are grade and
age-level appropriate.
Sec. 1259. (1) On real property that it controls, a school
district, intermediate school district, or public school academy
may display documents and objects of historical significance that
have formed and influenced the legal system or republican form of
free representative government of the United States based on the
rule of law found in the constitution of the United States and the
bill of rights. The documents and objects that may be displayed
include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(a) The documents listed in section 1167(2).
(b) The Magna Carta.
(c) The federalist papers.
(d) The anti-federalist papers.
(e) The Mayflower compact.
(f) The state constitution of 1963 or another constitution of
this state.
(g) The national motto.
(h) The national anthem.
(i) The writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of
the founding fathers and presidents of the United States.
(j) The Northwest ordinances.
(k) Another document or object of historical significance in
forming or influencing the United States or its legal or
governmental system or that exemplifies the development of the rule
of law.
(2) A display described in subsection (1) may include, but
shall not be limited to, documents that contain words associated
with a religion. However, the display shall not seek to establish
or promote religion or other philosophy. The display of a document
containing words associated with a religion shall be in the same
manner and appearance generally as other documents and objects
displayed and shall not be presented or displayed in any fashion
that results in calling attention to it apart from the other
displayed documents and objects. The display also shall be
accompanied by a prominent sign quoting the First Amendment to the
constitution of the United States as follows: "Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the government for a redress of grievances.".
Sec. 1278. (1) In addition to the requirements for
accreditation under section 1280 specified in that section, if the
board of a school district wants all of the schools of the school
district to be accredited under section 1280, the board shall
provide to all pupils attending public school in the district a
core academic curriculum in compliance with subsection (3) in each
of the curricular areas specified in the state board recommended
model core academic curriculum content standards developed under
subsection (2). The state board model core academic curriculum
content standards shall encompass academic and cognitive
instruction only. For purposes of this section, the state board
model core academic curriculum content standards shall not include
attitudes, beliefs, or value systems that are not essential in the
legal, economic, and social structure of our society and to the
personal and social responsibility of citizens of our society.
(2) Recommended model core academic curriculum content
standards shall be developed and periodically updated by the state
board, shall be in the form of knowledge and skill content
standards that are recommended as state standards for adoption by
public schools in local curriculum formulation and adoption, and
shall be distributed to each school district in the state. The
recommended model core academic curriculum content standards shall
set forth desired learning objectives in math, science, reading,
history, geography, economics, American government, and writing for
all children at each stage of schooling and be based upon the
"Michigan K-12 program standards of quality" to ensure that high
academic standards, academic skills, and academic subject matters
are built into the instructional goals of all school districts for
all children. Not later than May 1, 2013, the state board shall
update the state board recommended model core academic curriculum
content standards developed under this subsection to ensure that
they cover the instruction required under section 1167. The state
board also shall ensure that the Michigan educational assessment
program and the Michigan merit examination are based on the state
recommended model core curriculum content standards, are testing
only for proficiency in basic and advanced academic skills and
academic subject matter, and are not used to measure pupils' values
or attitudes.
(3) The board of each school district, considering academic
curricular objectives defined and recommended pursuant to
subsection (2), shall do both of the following:
(a) Establish a core academic curriculum for its pupils at the
elementary, middle, and secondary school levels. The core academic
curriculum shall define academic objectives to be achieved by all
pupils and shall be based upon the school district's educational
mission, long-range pupil goals, and pupil performance objectives.
The core academic curriculum may vary from the model core academic
curriculum content standards recommended by the state board
pursuant to subsection (2).
(b) After consulting with teachers and school building
administrators, determine the aligned instructional program for
delivering the core academic curriculum and identify the courses
and programs in which the core academic curriculum will be taught.
(4) The board may supplement the core academic curriculum by
providing instruction through additional classes and programs.
(5) For all pupils, the subjects or courses, and the delivery
of those including special assistance, that constitute the
curriculum the pupils engage in shall assure the pupils have a
realistic opportunity to learn all subjects and courses required by
the district's core academic curriculum. A subject or course
required by the core academic curriculum pursuant to subsection (3)
shall be provided to all pupils in the school district by a school
district, a consortium of school districts, or a consortium of 1 or
more school districts and 1 or more intermediate school districts.
(6) To the extent practicable, the state board may adopt or
develop academic objective-oriented high standards for knowledge
and life skills, and a recommended core academic curriculum, for
special education pupils for whom it may not be realistic or
desirable to expect achievement of initial mastery of the state
board recommended model core academic content standards objectives
or of a high school diploma.
(7) The state board shall make available to all nonpublic
schools in this state, as a resource for their consideration, the
model core academic curriculum content standards developed for
public schools pursuant to subsection (2) for the purpose of
assisting the governing body of a nonpublic school in developing
its core academic curriculum.
(8) Excluding special education pupils, pupils having a
learning disability, and pupils with extenuating circumstances as
determined by school officials, a pupil who does not score
satisfactorily on the 4th or 7th grade Michigan educational
assessment program reading test shall be provided special
assistance reasonably expected to enable the pupil to bring his or
her reading skills to grade level within 12 months.
(9) Any course that would have been considered a nonessential
elective course under Snyder v Charlotte School Dist, 421 Mich 517
(1984), on April 13, 1990 shall continue to be offered to resident
pupils of nonpublic schools on a shared time basis.
Sec. 1279g. (1) The board of a school district or board of
directors of a public school academy shall comply with this section
and shall administer the Michigan merit examination to pupils in
grade 11, and to pupils in grade 12 who did not take the complete
Michigan merit examination in grade 11, as provided in this
section.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the department of
technology, management, and budget shall contract with 1 or more
providers to develop, supply, and score the Michigan merit
examination. The Michigan merit examination shall consist of all of
the following:
(a) Assessment instruments that measure English language arts,
mathematics, reading, and science and are used by colleges and
universities in this state for entrance or placement purposes. This
shall include a writing component in which the pupil produces an
extended writing sample. The Michigan merit examination shall not
require any other extended writing sample.
(b) One or more tests from 1 or more test developers that
assess a pupil's ability to apply at least reading and mathematics
skills in a manner that is intended to allow employers to use the
results in making employment decisions. The department of
technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public
instruction shall ensure that any test or tests selected under this
subdivision have all the components necessary to allow a pupil to
be eligible to receive the results of a nationally recognized
evaluation of workforce readiness if the pupil's test performance
is adequate.
(c) A social studies component.
(d) Any other component that is necessary to obtain the
approval of the United States department of education to use the
Michigan merit examination for the purposes of the no child left
behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110.
(3) In addition to all other requirements of this section, all
of the following apply to the Michigan merit examination:
(a) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any
contractor used for scoring the Michigan merit examination supplies
an individual report for each pupil that will identify for the
pupil's parents and teachers whether the pupil met expectations or
failed to meet expectations for each standard, to allow the pupil's
parents and teachers to assess and remedy problems before the pupil
moves to the next grade.
(b) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any
contractor used for scoring, developing, or processing the Michigan
merit examination meets quality management standards commonly used
in the assessment industry, including at least meeting level 2 of
the capability maturity model developed by the software engineering
institute of Carnegie Mellon university for the first year the
Michigan merit examination is offered to all grade 11 pupils and at
least meeting level 3 of the capability maturity model for
subsequent years.
(c) The department of technology, management, and budget and
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any
contract for scoring, administering, or developing the Michigan
merit examination includes specific deadlines for all steps of the
assessment process, including, but not limited to, deadlines for
the correct testing materials to be supplied to schools and for the
correct results to be returned to schools, and includes penalties
for noncompliance with these deadlines.
(d) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
the Michigan merit examination meets all of the following:
(i) Is designed to test pupils on grade level content
expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate, in all
subjects tested.
(ii) Complies with requirements of the no child left behind act
of 2001, Public Law 107-110.
(iii) Is consistent with the code of fair testing practices in
education prepared by the joint committee on testing practices of
the American psychological association.
(iv) Is factually accurate. If the superintendent of public
instruction determines that a question is not factually accurate
and should be excluded from scoring, the state board and the
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the question
is excluded from scoring.
(4) A school district or public school academy that operates a
high school shall include on each pupil's high school transcript
all of the following:
(a) For each high school graduate who has completed the
Michigan merit examination under this section, the pupil's scaled
score on each subject area component of the Michigan merit
examination.
(b) The number of school days the pupil was in attendance at
school each school year during high school and the total number of
school days in session for each of those school years.
(5) The superintendent of public instruction shall work with
the provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination to
produce Michigan merit examination subject area scores for each
pupil participating in the Michigan merit examination, including
scaling and merging of test items for the different subject area
components. The superintendent of public instruction shall design
and distribute to school districts, public school academies,
intermediate school districts, and nonpublic schools a simple and
concise document that describes the scoring for each subject area
and indicates the scaled score ranges for each subject area.
(6) The Michigan merit examination shall be administered each
year after March 1 and before June 1 to pupils in grade 11. The
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan
merit examination is scored and the scores are returned to pupils,
their parents or legal guardians, and schools not later than the
beginning of the pupil's first semester of grade 12. The returned
scores shall indicate at least the pupil's scaled score for each
subject area component and the range of scaled scores for each
subject area. In reporting the scores to pupils, parents, and
schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall provide
standards-specific, meaningful, and timely feedback on the pupil's
performance on the Michigan merit examination.
(7) A school district or public school academy shall
administer the complete Michigan merit examination to a pupil only
once and shall not administer the complete Michigan merit
examination to the same pupil more than once. If a pupil does not
take the complete Michigan merit examination in grade 11, the
school district or public school academy shall administer the
complete Michigan merit examination to the pupil in grade 12. If a
pupil chooses to retake the college entrance examination component
of the Michigan merit examination, as described in subsection
(2)(a), the pupil may do so through the provider of the college
entrance examination component and the cost of the retake is the
responsibility of the pupil unless all of the following are met:
(a) The pupil has taken the complete Michigan merit
examination.
(b) The pupil did not qualify for a Michigan promise grant
under section 6 of the Michigan promise grant act, 2006 PA 479, MCL
390.1626, based on the pupil's performance on the complete Michigan
merit examination.
(c) The pupil meets the income eligibility criteria for free
breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under the Richard B.
Russell national school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769i.
(d) The pupil has applied to the provider of the college
entrance examination component for a scholarship or fee waiver to
cover the cost of the retake and that application has been denied.
(e) After taking the complete Michigan merit examination, the
pupil has not already received a free retake of the college
entrance examination component paid for either by this state or
through a scholarship or fee waiver by the provider.
(8) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
the length of the Michigan merit examination and the combined total
time necessary to administer all of the components of the Michigan
merit examination are the shortest possible that will still
maintain the degree of reliability and validity of the Michigan
merit examination results determined necessary by the
superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public
instruction shall ensure that the maximum total combined length of
time that schools are required to set aside for pupils to answer
all test questions on the Michigan merit examination does not
exceed 8 hours if the superintendent of public instruction
determines that sufficient alignment to applicable Michigan merit
curriculum content standards can be achieved within that time
limit.
(9) A school district or public school academy shall provide
accommodations to a pupil with disabilities for the Michigan merit
examination, as provided under section 504 of title V of the
rehabilitation act of 1973, 29 USC 794; subtitle A of title II of
the Americans with disabilities act of 1990, 42 USC 12131 to 12134;
the individuals with disabilities education act amendments of 1997,
Public Law 105-17; and the implementing regulations for those
statutes. The provider or providers of the Michigan merit
examination and the superintendent of public instruction shall
mutually agree upon the accommodations to be provided under this
subsection.
(10) To the greatest extent possible, the Michigan merit
examination shall be based on grade level content expectations or
course content expectations, as appropriate. Not later than July 1,
2008, the department shall identify specific grade level content
expectations to be taught before and after the middle of grade 11,
so that teachers will know what content will be covered within the
Michigan merit examination.
(11) A child who is a student in a nonpublic school or home
school may take the Michigan merit examination under this section.
To take the Michigan merit examination, a child who is a student in
a home school shall contact the school district in which the child
resides, and that school district shall administer the Michigan
merit examination, or the child may take the Michigan merit
examination at a nonpublic school if allowed by the nonpublic
school. Upon request from a nonpublic school, the superintendent of
public instruction shall direct the provider or providers to supply
the Michigan merit examination to the nonpublic school and the
nonpublic school may administer the Michigan merit examination. If
a school district administers the Michigan merit examination under
this subsection to a child who is not enrolled in the school
district, the scores for that child are not considered for any
purpose to be scores of a pupil of the school district.
(12) In contracting under subsection (2), the department of
technology, management, and budget shall consider a contractor that
provides electronically-scored essays with the ability to score
constructed response feedback in multiple languages and provide
ongoing instruction and feedback.
(13) The purpose of the Michigan merit examination is to
assess pupil performance in mathematics, science, social studies,
and English language arts for the purpose of improving academic
achievement and establishing a statewide standard of competency.
The assessment under this section provides a common measure of data
that will contribute to the improvement of Michigan schools'
curriculum and instruction by encouraging alignment with Michigan's
curriculum framework standards and promotes pupil participation in
higher level mathematics, science, social studies, and English
language arts courses. These standards are based upon the
expectations of what pupils should learn through high school and
are aligned with national standards.
(14) In addition to the other requirements of this section and
the requirements of 1970 PA 38, MCL 388.1081 to 388.1086, beginning
with assessments conducted during the 2014-2015 school year, the
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan
merit examination and the Michigan education assessment program
assessments include questions related to the instruction required
under and documents enumerated in section 1167, including at least
the declaration of independence and the constitution of the United
States.
(15) (14)
As used in this section:
(a) "English language arts" means reading and writing.
(b) "Social studies" means United States history, world
history, world geography, economics, and American government.
Sec.
1347. (1) The For
each public school building it
operates,
the board of each a school
district shall purchase or
possess a United States flag of a size of not less than 4 feet 2
inches
by 8 feet, flag staff, flagstaff,
and the necessary
appliances
therefor, for displaying
the flag upon the flagstaff;
shall erect the flagstaff on the public school building or on a
conspicuous place upon the school grounds; and shall display the
flag
upon the staff which shall be erected on each public school
building
or on a conspicuous place upon the school grounds
flagstaff at all times during school hours, inclement weather
excepted, in which case the flag shall be prominently displayed
within the school building.
(2) The board of a school district or intermediate school
district or board of directors of a public school academy shall
ensure that each pupil in each public school it operates is
required to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the
United States each school day. In addition to the display of the
flag at the school required under subsection (1), the board or
board of directors shall ensure that a United States flag is
displayed in each classroom or other instructional site in which
pupils are required to recite the pledge of allegiance under this
subsection.
