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School officials are reminded that while school board elections were moved to the even-year November election date beginning in 2012, current law permits school districts to place millage and bond propositions on the ballot at the four regular election dates each year (in February, May, August, and November), as well as certain petition initiative election dates.
The 2015 regular election dates for millage or bond proposals are as follows:
February 24...
The importance of obtaining “qualified status” each year from the Michigan Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) cannot be overemphasized. School districts, intermediate school districts, and public school academies that obtain qualified status are able to more swiftly issue new bonds and notes and pay lower filing fees to the State of Michigan for that debt. Those that do not obtain qualified status may experience significant delays in issuing bonds and notes during calendar year 2015....
On September 15, 2014, MERC again ruled that insisting on a prohibited subject at the bargaining table violates PERA and constitutes an unfair labor practice. Calhoun Intermediate Ed Ass’n, Case No CU12 B-009 (September 15, 2014). This case was handled by Thrun Law Firm and serves as an important road map for bargaining after the 2011 amendments to PERA.
More than two years ago, Calhoun Intermediate School District (“ISD”) engaged in negotiations with the Calhoun...
A Tenure Commission ALJ recently ordered Flint Community Schools to reinstate teacher Beth Casucci, finding that the District’s decision to terminate her employment violated the Teachers’ Tenure Act. Casucci v Flint Cmty Schs (PDO 13-54).
The school’s file indicated that Casucci’s teaching certificate would expire on June 30, 2013. In November 2012 and February 2013, the school sent Casucci warning letters that her teaching certificate...
The Michigan Employment Relations Commission recently ruled that a township violated Public Employment Relations Act (“PERA”) when it refused to bargain over the calculation method and total amount of the employee contributions related to its implementation of the “80/20” cost-sharing arrangement used to comply...
The Michigan Department of Education has announced the new threshold amount at which local schools, intermediate school districts, and public school academies must competitively bid: (1) labor and materials for construction projects under Revised School Code Section 1267; and (2) the purchase of supplies, mate...
In a memorandum dated July 10, 2014, the Michigan Department of Education (“MDE”) expressed concern that some schools are circumventing the certification requirements of sections 1246 and 1536 of the Revised School Code by hiring or contracting with “temporary” or “interim” school administrators.
Section 1246 of the Revised...
The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (“MERC”) recently adopted (in the absence of an appeal) an Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) ruling that a public employer’s refusal to bargain over the “impact” of implementing Public Act 54 of 2011 (“PA 54”) violated the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act (“PERA”). City of...
On July 24, 2014, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) issued revised guidance on budget transparency to include changes required by the fiscal year 2014-15 Education Omnibus Appropriation Bill (PA 196 of 2014). The guidance document is available at www.thrunlaw.com/links.
The 2014-2015 Education Omnibus Appropriation Bill made a number of amendments to various provisions of the State School...
As we reported in the March 27, 2014 edition of School Law Notes, Public Act 12 of 2014 (the “Act”) modified the frequency and recording requirements of Michigan school safety drills. The Act became effective on July 1, 2014.
Under these new requirements, by September 15 of each school year, the chief administrator (or designee) of a school building that operates any of grades kindergarten to 12 must provide a list of the school buildings’ scheduled drill days to the County...