Michigan Teachers’ Tenure Act Amendment

Earlier this month, Governor Whitmer signed into law Public Act 134 of 2024 (PA 134), which changes the performance evaluation ratings a probationary teacher must receive to successfully complete the teacher’s probationary period under the Michigan Teachers’ Tenure Act (TTA).

PA 134 will become effective 91 days after final adjournment of the Michigan Legislature’s 2024 regular session, meaning PA 134 is expected to take effect in late March or early April 2025.

Currently, for a teacher to successfully complete a probationary period, the TTA requires the teacher to have “been rated as effective on or after July 1, 2024, or highly effective before July 1, 2024, on three consecutive year-end performance evaluations” and to have completed at least four full school years of probationary employment. With the removal of the highly effective rating by recent legislation and no pre-July 1, 2024 effective ratings counted toward successful probation completion, a probationary teacher who has not received three highly effective ratings before July 1, 2024 would need to receive three consecutive effective ratings after July 1, 2024 to successfully complete the probationary period. The current TTA therefore could extend a teacher’s probationary period beyond the four-year period.

PA 134 fixes this loophole, as it now allows a rating of effective, in addition to highly effective (for ratings issued before July 1, 2024), to count toward successful probationary period completion. It also changes the TTA so that the required highly effective or effective ratings no longer must be earned in consecutive probationary years. PA 134 does, however, require that the rating earned in the final probationary period year be either highly effective or effective.

School officials should review their probationary teachers’ previous effectiveness ratings to determine if PA 134 will grant those teachers tenure when PA 134 takes effect.