News from Thrun Law

If your school has outstanding bonds, it may have entered into a “continuing disclosure agreement” that requires the school to submit certain “continuing disclosure” documents annually to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Electronic Municipal Market Access System (EMMA), including the school’s audit and updated key financial and operating information.

If your school entered into a continuing disclosure agreement as part of a bond transaction and the bonds are still...

In last month’s edition of School Law Notes, we reviewed the importance of filing the Municipal Fi­nance Qualifying Statement form with the Michigan De­partment of Treasury by December 31 each year. A successful Qualifying Statement submission gives a school “qualified status” for the upcoming year. Obtain­ing qualified status allows schools to issue most types of municipal obligations (bonds, state aid notes, and tax notes) without the delay of applying for Treasury pre-approval...

As noted in the previous article, on September 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights provided guidance on face-covering require­ments for students with disabilities. On October 20, 2020, State Superintendent Michael Rice issued a mem­orandum consistent with OCR’s guidance. School offi­cials should understand the scope of both guidance documents.

Neither OCR’s guidance nor Dr. Rice’s memoran­dum prohibit schools from requesting medical verifica­tion...

On September 30, 2020, Governor Whitmer signed into law Public Act 165, amending the State School Aid Act (SSAA). Our Sep­tember 30, 2020 E-Blast explained certain urgent aspects of this leg­islation. This article discusses other important provisions of PA 165, including additional funding for increased enrollment, local produce purchasing, student meal debt, teacher retention, and funding to create a “Michigan Learning Channel.”

Increased Enrollment

New SSAA Section...