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 School
Construction Under Scrutiny
MIRS, August 29, 2003
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School districts would be required to submit capital improvement
programs to local governments, site plans to local, regional, or
county planning commissions, and comply with local land use
master plans and zoning under proposed recommendations contained
in a report by the Michigan Land Use Institute and the Michigan
Chamber of Commerce.
The report contains results of a six-month research project
called "Neighborhood Schools Project." The project was made
possible by a grant from People and Land, funded by the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation and managed by Public Sector Consultants.
Mac McCLELLAND, policy specialist with the Michigan Land Use
Institute and primary author of the report, presented
preliminary findings and proposed recommendations to the State
Board of Education on Thursday.
McClelland said the research found Proposal A changed how local
school districts and the state finance public education and
inadvertently triggered a huge boom in building new schools.
As a result, "the total amount of indebtedness through the Bond
Fund has tripled, from $4 billion in 1994 to $12 billion in
2002, while the overall state student population increased only
4.5 percent during the same period." McClelland said.
McClelland added that because Proposal A directs state money to
schools on a per-pupil basis, schools are encouraged to openly
compete for students by building "Taj Mahal"-type new facilities
– a strategy that has proven remarkably successful.
Other findings include:
- The standard recommendation for how much land a Michigan
school needs is significantly greater (75 acres) than nationally
recognized guidelines (45 acres)
- The state superintendent of public instruction has exclusive
jurisdiction over school buildings and sites, but provides
little oversight or direction in school location or site
development decisions
- The desire to have all athletic fields adjacent to schools
often leads to school construction outside of populated areas
- Schools built on greenfields are easy; renovating or building
new schools in town centers is tough. Renovating an existing
school while in operation on a constrained site presents more
challenges than building a new school in an unoccupied open
field.
The preliminary report calls for state leadership and incentives
to help Michigan school districts make better, less expensive
and more practical decisions about when, how, and where to spend
money on school construction.
In addition to local government review of renovation and new
construction plans, the recommendations call for:
- Providing technical assistance to school districts
- Requiring and providing matching grants for independent
assessments of school facilities to accurately and fairly
compare the cost of renovation versus construction of new
schools
- Establishing state level standards for school construction
that include extensive review of renovation opportunities, safe
routes to schools, integration with surrounding uses, and shared
facilities under the current jurisdiction of the state
superintendent
- Providing financial incentives for renovation and require more
intensive assessments for school closures under the Michigan
School Bond Fund Program
- Developing financing incentives for urban school districts to
enhance educational facilities
- Encouraging and facilitating collaboration between schools and
local governments and other educational institutions to share
athletic facilities.
McClelland said the project was prompted by Michigan's
increasingly spread out patterns of development and the
organizations' observation that new school construction in
previously underdeveloped areas might be a factor in encouraging
the trend of urban sprawl.
"Michigan is consuming land for new development at a rate eight
times faster than the increase of population," McClelland said.
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Michigan Medicaid Expanded To Relatives
MIRS, August 29, 2003
Low-income grandparents and other relatives who live with and
care for non-birth children may qualify for medical coverage
under new rules from the Department of Community Health (DCH)
and Department of Human Services (FIA).
The new rules benefit nonparent caretaker relatives - close
relatives that are acting as the parent for a child but are not
the child's biological or adopted parent. The new rules were
issued as the result of a federal court order in a case brought
by kinship caregivers.
"Thousands of children in Michigan are being raised by caretaker
relatives," said Jackie DOIG of Saginaw, Michigan-based Center
for Civil Justice. "They are also known as 'kinship' caregivers.
These caretakers may have been denied Medicaid previously and
may now be eligible."
Even if some kinship caregivers are not eligible for Medicaid at
this time, they may qualify for help paying for past medical
bills or for help if they have high medical bills in the future,
depending on individual circumstances. State officials also say
that many kinship caregivers can receive financial help from the
FIA to defray the cost of raising a relative's child, even if
they do not qualify for Medicaid.
"As a result of the new rules, kinship caregivers may qualify
for full Medicaid coverage now or they may have a lower monthly
spend-down to meet before their Medicaid coverage begins," said
FIA director Nannette BOWLER. A Medicaid "spend-down" is
equivalent to a health insurance deductible.
Under the new rules, less of the caregiver's income will be
counted when determining Medicaid eligibility or spend-down
amounts. Unlike previous rules, the new rules allow nonparent
caregivers to receive the same deductions from income as
parents. These deductions are based on the number of children
they are parenting.
"Kinship caregivers who were told they had a Medicaid spend-down
in the past should re-apply for Medicaid to find out if the new
rules will help them pay for medical care," said DCH Director
Janet OLSZEWSKI.
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