Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.
With control of the House, Michigan Republicans are pushing myriad education policies including creating a new pathway for emergency teacher certification, keeping transgender students out of sports, and potentially cutting billions of dollars in funding for schools.
In the first three months of the legislative session, Republicans have offered a view into how they want to shape public education in the state now that Democrats have lost their trifecta over state government. Democrats, who still control the Senate and the governor’s office, will likely have more difficulty passing their education policy priorities this session, unless they focus on bipartisan measures.
The shift in power has already impacted state school budget negotiations this year, with Republican leaders taking a bullish approach.
Without advance notice last week, House Republicans passed a bare bones $15.6 billion education budget proposal they say would fund essential government functions if negotiations stall in the summer.
Speaker of the House Matt Hall said during a press conference Tuesday the proposal is a “government shutdown prevention plan” — not a fully fleshed out budget.
“For anyone to say that this is the Republican budget is absolutely false,” he said.
The budget proposal passed by the House only included funding for mental health and school safety, special education, and allocations to the Michigan Public School Employee Retirement System. The proposal would increase the foundation amount local districts get per student from $9,608 to $10,025. It left out funding for everything else, including transportation and school meals.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month proposed a $21.2 billion education budget that also would increase the foundation allowance. Her proposal also included increased funding for students considered to be “at-risk,” early literacy grants, early childhood education, and special education.
Democrats expressed concerns last week over the proposal the House moved forward, calling it a ploy to get an unfair advantage in budget negotiations.
“This is a sad day for Michigan students and families,” said State Rep. Stephanie Young, a Democrat from Detroit, in a prepared statement. “Every Republican in this chamber voted to put students at risk of not receiving the quality education they deserve, whether it’s kids learning on an empty stomach or losing out on quality investments in classroom programs.”
On Tuesday, Hall also highlighted bills introduced by Republicans so far this session that will “reform the education system” in the state.
“We developed this education plan that focuses on real life skills,” he said.
The House Education and Workforce Committee last week moved forward a bill that would let local schools issue temporary teaching certificates and another that would get rid of fees for those applying to become educators. Both bills were introduced in an effort to address the state’s ongoing teacher shortage.
In order to become law, those bills will have to go to a vote in the full House. The Democratically controlled Senate would then have to approve them before being signed into law by Whitmer.
House Bill 4153, which moved to the House for a full vote, would allow public schools to issue local teaching certificates. The certificates would only allow those individuals to teach a specific subject in the districts in which they are issued. Special education teaching certification would not be included.
Those who receive the certification would have to hold a degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the same subject area and have graduated with at least a 3.0 grade point average.
The certificates would be temporary and not last longer than five years, unless the certification is for teaching career and technical education. The bill also has a sunset provision to end the authorization after July 1, 2035.
The current law only allows people with state teaching certificates to work in public schools unless they meet alternate requirements. Requirements for Michigan teaching certificates, which are issued only to those who pass state teaching exams, are determined by the state superintendent.
Also under the current law, teachers in their first three years working in classrooms must be assigned a master teacher as their mentor. This bill would make exemptions for those teaching with local certification.
House Bill 4150 would get rid of fees for people applying for teaching certificates, endorsements, and permits. The Michigan Department of Education, or MDE, would not be allowed to charge fees to receive or process the applications. The same would apply to renewals.
It can cost from $50 up to $210 for initial application fees, depending on the type of permit or certification and whether the educator is applying from out of state. Renewal fees range from $60 to $160.
House Bill 4024 and Senate Bill 9 would restrict transgender students’ access to the bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
House Bill 4066 would prevent transgender students from participating in school sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Similar bills have been introduced in Michigan in previous sessions. None moved forward.
The House Education and Workforce Committee also moved these bills forward:
- A House bill that would require an additional subject area endorsement on teaching certificates for certificate holders who pass multiple subject areas on the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification.
- A House bill that would require teacher preparation universities to ensure its math and science programs are developed in consultation with “a professor or other content expert” in those fields by Sept. 30, 2027. Programs that don’t meet that deadline will have their authorization for existing programs revoked.
- A House bill that would allow intermediate school districts to contract with each other to operate career and technical education programs. The bill would allow ISDs to use money raised with millages in one region to contract with another ISD.
Other Republican bills introduced this session include:
- A House bill that would require local districts to post student achievement data on their websites.
- A House bill that would restrict cellphone use for students.
- A House bill that would require core curriculum standards include the science of reading and interventions for students who exhibit signs of dyscalculia, or trouble processing and using numbers.
- A Senate bill to require all public schools in the state to have mobile panic alert systems.
- A House bill to require the MDE to publish a list of “recommended” curriculum and assessment companies for local public schools to choose from. The curricula provided by those companies would have to align with the state’s academic standards and “provide evidence of effectiveness through independent research or other reliable data.”
- A joint resolution to amend the state constitution to make the state superintendent of public instruction, who runs the MDE, be appointed by the governor instead of the State Board of Education after Jan. 1, 2027.
The final state education budget will need approval from both the House and Senate before being signed into law by the governor. Democrats in the Senate will likely reject the House’s proposal. The deadline for the budget is July 1.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
