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 Watkins
Pleased With Bush Meeting
MIRS, March 23, 2004
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State
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom WATKINS and some of his
colleagues met with President George W. BUSH to discuss the
federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
While stating that the members of the Council of Chief State
School Officers would have liked to have left the meeting with
firm commitments and more money, Watkins said that he was
overall pleased with the discussion.
The Superintendent said among the topics discussed, the School
Officers expressed the need for greater flexibility in the NCLB
requirements that only one percent of a school's student body is
allowed to take an alternative test. Other issues included:
- Having the President use his bully pulpit to stress that the
NCLB isn't about "failing schools," but about lifting
performance.
- Provide greater flexibility on the highly qualified teacher
requirements of the Act.
Watkins said he enjoyed the meeting, but when asked if this
meant Bush sought his endorsement, he laughed.
"I wouldn't go that far."
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What's New
McManus Expects Slow Action on Groundwater Fees
Gongwer News Service, March 23, 2004
An agreement will likely be reached on fees to fund the state's
groundwater discharge program, but it will not likely be before
the April 1 deadline the Department of Environmental Quality has
set for continuation of the program, Michigan Sen. Michelle
McManus told Gongwer News Service.
Ms. McManus, chair of the Senate Appropriations DNR/DEQ
Subcommittee that addressed the bills in that chamber, said the
changes made by the House affected the ability of the fees to
meet the needs of the program.
"The Senate's been committed to the bills that we sent over,"
she said of the groundwater program and other Department of
Environmental Quality fees proposed by Governor Jennifer
Granholm. "The groundwater's a bigger issue because the House
did a lot of exemptions."
Discussions are ongoing to develop a compromise, she said.
"Before spring break? Probably not," she said.
Matt Resch, spokesperson for House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy),
agreed there is slow movement on the agreement. "It's getting
pretty close. We are working to move forward," he said.
But he also stood by the House's exemptions to the groundwater
fee. "A lot of these fees would affect farmers and church groups
and Boy Scouts," he said. "A lot of members don't want to tack
fees on top of these groups."
He also charged that the DEQ has the funds to continue the
groundwater program until an agreement is reached. "The
program's been able to go forward without this additional
money," he said. "If the administration wanted to make it a
priority (there would be money to fund it)."
DEQ Director Steven Chester has insisted that the program will
run out of funds on April 23 unless fees to support it are
enacted by April 1 to give time to have the funds start flowing.
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What's New
First Budgets Reported by Michigan Senate Appropriations
Committee
Gongwer News Service, March 23, 2004
Disagreements over how the state allocates payments to hospitals
with large Medicaid patient populations marked action on the
Department of Community Health 2004-05 budget as the Senate
Appropriations Committee sent that and two other budgets to the
full Senate on Tuesday.
Also approved by the committee, along with SB 1063, were budgets
for the Department of Natural Resources, SB 1068, and Michigan's
community colleges, SB 1062.
In enacting the DNR budget the committee restored most of the
travel funding that, when cut by the subcommittee, department
officials had warned could cripple the ability of conservation
officers to patrol.
The Community Health budget still includes the additional $513.4
million in general funds over Governor Jennifer Granholm's
recommendation because it takes no position on whether the
governor's proposed cigarette and liquor tax increases will be
approved. Much of the revenues raised by those taxes, if passed
as introduced, will go to the Medicaid Trust Fund.
The budget therefore totals $9.74 billion, a fractional increase
over the current year's budget. The general fund portion totals
$2.97 billion.
Among the major changes in the budget, the committee restored
full funding for Medicaid services for adult dental care,
podiatric, chiropractic and hearing services, but cut Ms.
Granholm's proposed increases in the state's Healthy Michigan
programs by $26.8 million. An effort to restore some of the cuts
to the Healthy Michigan fund failed.
But the committee's attention focused mostly on a provision that
would change allocations for the so-called "disproportionate
share hospital payments" made to hospitals with large Medicaid
patient populations. Now $45 million is allocated to hospitals,
with most the funding going to large urban hospitals.
Under the bill, $40 million would be distributed to hospitals by
paying them eight/ninths of what they had received in 2003/04,
while the remaining $5 million would go to hospitals that
received less than $900,000 in the payments.
Committee members from urban areas said the provision would
provide a significant cut to their hospitals, while not
providing large benefits to the other hospitals. Sen. Deb Cherry
(D-Burton) said Hurley Hospital in Flint could lose $300,000
under the provision while a hospital in Deckerville would
receive just $44.
But committee chair Sen. Shirley Johnson (R-Royal Oak) said all
Michigan's hospitals are hurting because the current proposal
focuses funding on Detroit hospitals.
Sen. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville) said the way to solve the
problem would be to add $5 million to the disproportionate
payment program, not siphon off $5 million to other hospitals.
In the DNR budget, instead of cutting the travel budget by 50
percent-as the Senate is attempting to do in all its budgets-the
budget would cut total travel by some 6 percent. That would
restore the full budget to about $253.4 million, close to the
total appropriation for the current year.
The other major change from the current year is that the
committee concurred with Ms. Granholm's proposal on payments in
lieu of taxes to local governments. The provision would use some
funds now set aside for local revenue sharing and cap the number
of mills assessed on the property, as well as freeze the value
of state-owned land. The total changes would save the state some
$8.3 million.
The community college budget totals $285.7 million, all of it in
general funds, and the primary change in the measure is the
expectation that all the state's two-year colleges will keep
tuition increases at the level of inflation for 2005, which
would add $8.5 million to the budget's total.
The budget also assumes, said Sen. Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks),
that the inflation level used will be for calendar 2005, instead
of fiscal 2005, which means the colleges could raise tuition by
2.4 percent instead of 2.3 percent.
If tuitions were raised by 2.3 percent, then students would also
be eligible for tuition tax credits that would not be available
at 2.4 percent. The slightly higher tuition would save the state
another $50 million.
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What's New
Agreement Stuck On Water Fees/Admin Rules
MIRS, March 24, 2004
The governor and legislative
leaders today announced an end to the logjam on the state's new
water pollution fees by agreeing to give the Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) the ability to draft rules, but
giving the Legislature more time to look at them.
As first reported by MIRS on Feb. 25, Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM and
the Legislature had been working on a compromise to a dispute
over National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit fees and who would control the administrative rules part
of the process.
In February, Senate Majority Leader Ken SIKKEMA (R-Wyoming) and
Speaker Rick JOHNSON (R-LeRoy) pushed through legislation
establishing the fees. However, the bill also took away the
DEQ's ability to draw up any rules the department would feel is
necessary to administer the process. Granholm held a news
conference the same morning the Senate passed the bill and
blamed the Republicans for sinking the funding source for
wastewater inspections.
If an agreement had not been struck by April 1, the DEQ would
have run out of money to administer the program and be forced to
turn over the program's reigns to the federal government.
Today's agreement streamlines the administrative rulemaking and
hearings processes, allowing the Granholm administration to
implement policy while the Legislature now gets 15 session days
to review rule changes as opposed to the current 21-calendar-day
window.
"This agreement takes a significant step forward in protecting
our citizens and our water from the harmful effects of
pollution, while allowing us to better implement policy," said
Granholm. "This agreement will consolidate the functions of
government to make it more efficient and to save taxpayers'
money by requiring permit holders to pay for their discharge
permits."
The legislation to implement the agreement includes SB 252 and
HB 5670.
SB 252, sponsored by Sen. Liz BRATER (D-Ann Arbor), sets up $5.4
million in new fees for the NPDES program and the stormwater
program. It passed the House and Senate last month but was held
up because of a change added in conference committee that would
have eliminated the ability of the DEQ to promulgate rules. Both
chambers agreed to the fees raised by the bill that will allow
the DEQ to administer and monitor the permit program.
HB 5670, sponsored by Rep. John PAPPAGEORGE (R-Troy), will give
the executive branch complete responsibility for the processing
and promulgation of administrative rules. However, the
legislation will extend the time period for review of
administrative rules from a mandatory 21 calendar days under
current law, to an optional review period of up to 15
legislative session days.
But in a change from current law, the Joint Committee on
Administrative Rules (JCAR) will be allowed to waive a portion
of the review period. Also, the bill would also allow
administrative rules to take effect immediately upon filing,
permit the centralized processing of notices on behalf of
agencies issuing rules, and make it easier for the Legislature
to dump a proposed administrative rule change by concurrent
resolution.
In addition, Granholm will issue an executive order
consolidating administrative hearing functions and officers and
transferring administrative rule processing functions currently
performed by the Office of Regulatory Reform into a new State
Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules within the
Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
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What's New
Panel Probes Possible ISD Stonewalling
MIRS, March 24, 2004
Today, Republicans on the House Subcommittee To Review
Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) asked subpoenaed witnesses
about the Oakland ISD's public relations response to the
scandals that rocked it in the autumn of 2002 and the summer of
2003.
More specifically, they want to find out how much the ISD has,
and is, spending on public relations and lobbying efforts, and
whether it has engaged in efforts to conceal information from
the Legislature.
One angle that could potentially translate into legislation was
whether a public entity, such as an ISD, can avoid disclosing
lobbying and public relations expenses by contract for such
service through a legal firm.
According to Subcommittee Chair Ruth JOHNSON (R-Holly) she
issued a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request with the
Oakland ISD, and at first appeared to be denied the information
because the public relations-lobbying firm had been hired
through the ISD's attorneys at Thrun, Maatsch, Nordberg, Pollard
& Albertson, L.L.P.
However, among the documents sent in response to one of
Johnson's FOIA requests (she has filed several over the past
couple of years) the Subcommittee did obtain a copy of an
invoice, dated Sept. 1 addressed to Oakland County ISD Assistant
Superintendent Danford AUSTIN.
The invoice states that it is a billing through Aug. 20, 2003.
It lists the following items: General File - $656, Oakland Press
- $49.50, Subpoena Power For Legislative Subcommittee -
$6,211.50, Vocational Technical - $82.50, Legislative Review,
House Subcommittee (Total fees for this matter) - $1,558, and
Disbursements for this matter - $22,393.50.
The total invoice came to $30,951.09.
Today, after establishing that on July 8, 2003, the Oakland ISD
board had basically voted to allow Austin to hire as many law
firms as he deemed necessary, Johnson questioned Austin about
the invoice.
"Why was the lobbyist hired through the law firm?" Johnson
asked.
"I think it was a matter of expediency," Austin replied, stating
that he believed the law firm already had a relationship with
the lobbyist.
"Was it because by doing it in this way it effectively kept the
related documents from being (subject to FOIA) and kept the ISD
Board from being fully informed about it?" Johnson asked
Austin replied that, "No," these weren't the reasons.
Rep. Ken BRADSTREET (R-Gaylord) asked Austin if the invoice
period covered July 2003.
"I'm not sure," Austin said. "It may include some of August, as
well."
Bradstreet asked if the ISD Board had been informed of the
invoice breakdown, regarding the public relations and lobbying
costs.
"Not in that much detail," Austin said. "I do report the legal
costs (the full $30,951) to the board,"
In response to a Bradstreet question, Austin said that the
lobbyist was GCSI (Governmental Consultant Services Inc.),
specifically Michael HAWKS.
Bradstreet asked Austin what differentiates legal fees from
"disbursements," as listed on the invoice.
"I would say legal fees for work done on legal opinions," Austin
said. "Disbursement would be other activities."
The subcommittee has requested more information on the ISD's
overall lobbying and public relations costs for the period
following the newspaper accounts that brought the scandals to
light.
If it has received that information, the panel has yet to
release it to the news media.
Meanwhile, Bradstreet told MIRS that he wants to first find out
if Oakland ISD's initial interpretation that information
pertaining to third party arrangements made through a law firm
is exempt from FOIA, before he proceeds with potential
legislation.
The primary scandal, which became public in the fall of 2002,
was over the use of funds from a voter-approved tax levy that
were supposed to be earmarked for special education, but were
used for a multi-million dollar building. The district fired
former Oakland ISD Superintendent James REDMOND a few months
later. The initial information that brought the misuse of funds
to light came from ISD employees who took their complaints to
the ISD board.
In addition to Austin, the ISD panel also questioned Oakland
County ISD Director of Communications and Marketing Shelley
Yorke ROSE.
Rose was responsible for responding to FOIAs up to Oct. 27,
2003.
Bradstreet opened his questioning of Rose by asking her if she
had been coached by attorneys in preparation for her testimony.
"Not coached," Rose responded. "We did have some attorneys in to
talk to us about it. We've never done anything like this
before."
Johnson asked Rose about documents the subcommittee had received
through FOIA that had certain information, such as dates,
"blacked out."
"It may have been information that was highlighted, but came out
that way on the copies," Rose explained. "Not everything
reproduced well."
Johnson then read an e-mail the panel had obtained.
"[We] have to go through and remove all e-mails, including Roger
CAMPBELL's," Johnson read. "What was this about?"
"Pollard (the law firm), as legal counsel, had advised us that
personal e-mails were not subject to FOIA," Rose responded.
Bradstreet asked if she had any trouble differentiating between
a personal e-mail and an e-mail that wasn't personal.
"No," Rose assured him.
Rep. Mike NOFS (R-Battle Creek) asked Rose if she had ever been
directed or had asked how she was to deal with the bad press
generated by the scandals.
"We were in crisis so long that everything (plan) committed to
writing was subject to change in five minutes," Rose responded.
Nofs asked if outside sources had been brought in to help the
ISD cope with public relations.
"Pollard brought in an outside firm," Rose said. "It was Kelly
ROSSMAN."
"Was that paid for with ISD funds?' Nofs asked.
"Yes," Rose responded.
Nofs asked if there had been a plan to discredit the
subcommittee, its chairman, or anyone else on the panel.
"Absolutely not," Rose said.
Johnson read another email in which an Oakland ISD staffer
suggests that if the destination were left off a travel invoice,
the cost ($850) of the flight might be overlooked. The trip was
to Hong Kong.
At one point Johnson spoke about repeatedly requesting all
travel receipts and invoices over a period of months. She said
that during those months the indications she received from the
ISD was that no such information existed. But, she finally got
the material.
"These are travel records, receipts and purchasing orders,"
Johnson said, as she lifted a full notebook, somewhat thicker
than the Lansing phone book, and held it in full view. "Why was
this withheld for so long?"
Rose suggested the problem could have revolved around the term
"travel records."
Rep. Andrew MEISNER (D-Ferndale) asked Rose if, in hindsight,
the ISD response to the FOIA requests might have been somewhat
too technical in its interpretation.
Rose agreed that, knowing what she knows now, the response might
have been too restrictive.
In addition the public relations and lobbying issue, the panel
asked Austin how Redmond had managed to have a moral turpitude
clause taken out of his contract without the Oakland ISD Board
being aware of it.
"I received a call from (Mark) RAITER (Oakland County ISD
Assistant Superintendent of Resource Management) on the Friday
before the June 6, 2002 ISD Board meeting. "He told me that Jim
(Redmond) wanted to take that out of his contract."
According to Austin, he responded by telling Raiter he strongly
opposed the idea and asked to be kept posted on the situation.
However, Austin said, he didn't know the clause had been taken
out of the contract until after the board had approved the new
contract at the June 6 meeting.
"I looked at it afterward, and when the meeting was over I said
to them (the board members) 'do you know what it is you've
approved?'" Austin said.
Bradstreet asked if it had been Raiter who'd dropped the ball on
the issue by not keeping Austin informed.
"No, I don't think he knew it had been taken out either," Austin
answered.
Austin said he believed the board members had been told certain
things by Redmond about the contract, which was up for renewal
each June, but never bothered to actually read the contract
before approving it.
Meisner asked Austin what he believes the Legislature could do
to prevent another situation like the one that developed at the
Oakland ISD.
"I don't think anything the Legislature has done would have
prevented this from happening," Austin said, after stating he
supports the ISD measures the House just passed. "The problem
was in the procurement process. The ISD had procedures in place,
but the former Superintendent could override them."
On Feb 12, the Subcommittee subpoenaed 16 witnesses in
connection with its ISD investigation. The hearings are expected
to continue through the spring. Ed STANILIS, Oakland County ISD
Assistant Director of Fund Development, also testified today.
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What's New
Michigan School Aid K-12 Budget Moves Out of Senate
Committee: Special Education Cost Estimates Resolved
MIRS, March 24, 2004
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $12.5 billion,
2005 School Aid budget that is now only $6.8 million in General
Fund higher than what Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM recommended.
As was reported in MIRS last week, the K-12 Appropriations
Subcommittee approved a budget that was $23 million higher than
the Governor's proposal. The Senate Fiscal Agency explained
today that the subcommittee recommendation used a cost
assumption for special education expenditures that was higher
than what the governor used in her budget. Today, the full
committee decided to use the governor's cost assumption instead,
and, as a result, was able to trim $27.7 million from the
subcommittee's special education appropriation.
The committee also restored $4 million in funding for at-risk
student support. The subcommittee had cut the governor's at-risk
recommendation by $13.9 million.
The Senate proposal keeps the basic foundation allowance at
$6,700, as was proposed by the Governor, but scraps the
governor's recommendation to change the way in which students
are counted for the purpose of distributing state aid, as well
as the governor's proposals to eliminate declining enrollment
assistance and reduce aid to schools that receive foundation
allowances over $9,000. These rejections add $33 million to the
governor's recommendation.
To help offset this increase, the Senate plan reduces the
governor's recommendation for at-risk student support by $10
million; cuts school readiness grants by $2 million; reduces
funding for Intermediate School District operations and programs
by $12.5 million; and cuts $2 million from vocational education.
Subcommittee Chair Sen. Ron JELINEK (R-Three Oaks) called the
budget recommendation a maintenance budget. He said, "The goal
here is not to develop new programs, or increase spending for
programs, until we can maintain the programs that we put in the
'04 budget."
In what might be considered as a shot across the bow of the
Michigan Education Association, the committee approved an
amendment by Committee Chair Sen. Shirley JOHNSON (R-Royal Oak)
that requires the Department of Management & Budget and the
Senate and House Fiscal Agencies to conduct a study of the
feasibility of creating and requiring school districts,
community colleges, and state universities to participate in a
statewide purchasing pool for employee health benefits, or of
including these entities in state employee health plans.
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What's New
Poll: Michigan Taxpayers Willing to Pay More For Schools
MIRS, March 24, 2004
A survey released today by Public Sector Consultants (PSC) shows
that Michigan residents approve of the job being done by their
local schools and might be willing to pay more in property taxes
to maintain some programs.
The survey of 680 adults earlier this year found that 63 percent
would choose to maintain the programs offered by their schools
if it was a choice between the programs or keeping property
taxes as low as possible.
Also, 12 percent of respondents gave their schools an A.
Forty-two percent gave their schools a B. Forty-seven percent
say the quality of their schools has "stayed the same" in the
past few years. As many say their schools have "gotten better"
(24 percent) as say they have "gotten worse" (20 percent).
- More than three-fourths of respondents -- 78 percent --
believe their tax dollars are a good bargain for the quality of
education that their schools deliver.
"Taken together, these results demonstrate that the public has a
positive view of public education that is largely unchanged over
the past decade and is not averse to paying more to maintain the
programs and services they value," said Melissa RIBA, senior
research consultant at PSC. "The public also understands that
early childhood education is an important building block for
later educational success, but their support is tempered by
budgetary concerns."
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