As the school year comes to a close, many school officials must unfortunately consider program closures for the 2014-2015 school year. You are reminded that great care must be taken before eliminating a special education program, no matter how costly.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) recently investigated allegations that a Michigan school district’s closure of its program for students with emotional impairments violated Section 504 of the...
Many school districts were recently notified by their health insurance providers of the need to opt in or out of “elective” abortion coverage. These notices were sent by health insurance providers pursuant to Michigan’s Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, PA 182 of 2013, which became effective March 14, 2014 (the “Act”).
The term “elective” abortion coverage is broadly defined in the Act to mean “the intentional use of an instrument, drug, or other substance or device to terminate a woman...
MERC recently issued two decisions reiterating that teacher layoff, recall, and placement decisions are prohibited bargaining subjects. According to MERC, school districts have no duty to adhere to settlement agreements containing prohibited bargaining subjects or to bargain over expired CBAs or past practices containing prohibited bargaining subjects.
Agreement over Prohibited Subject Is Unenforceable
In Pontiac School Dist and Pontiac Ed Ass’n...
On April 22, 2014, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming the Michigan Tax Tribunal’s decisions in Lowe’s Home Centers Inc v Township of Marquette, Docket No. 314111 (April 22, 2014) and Home Depot USA Inc v Township of Breitung, Docket No. 314301 (April 22, 2014). In both cases, the Tax Tribunal adopted the so-called “dark store” methodology of valuing “big box” stores for property tax assessments. This approach values a big box store property as if it...
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has issued a “significant guidance document” on Title IX and sexual violence. A copy of the guidance can be found on the OCR website at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201404-...
A Michigan Employment Relations Commission (“MERC”) Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) recently held that a school district’s decision to unilaterally change from an 80/20 contribution to a “hard cap” during the term of a collective bargaining agreement, when hard cap was included in the agreement, violated the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act (“PERA”). Garden City Pub Schs, Case No. C13 K-180 (April 25, 2014).
PA 152 requires public employers to limit their...
This year marked the 28th anniversary of Thrun Law Firm's School Law Update annual spring seminars. The seminars, which were held in Mt. Pleasant, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Livonia and Marquette, were offered at no charge to our retainer clients. Our attorneys provided the nearly 400 school administrators and board members who attended with the most current information available in the areas of: Labor & Employment; Finance & Elections; Tax Tribunal Issues; Special Education;...
MERC recently rejected an unfair labor practice (“ULP”) charge alleging that the Pontiac School District violated a collective bargaining agreement by requiring teachers to collect student questionnaires and involuntarily transferring a teacher. Pontiac Sch Dist, MERC Case No. C12 D-070 (March, 17, 2014).
After the collective bargaining agreement expired, the district required its teachers to participate in a student questionnaire program. The district stated that it would...
Recent changes to Section 47 of Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act require a communication (e.g., telephone call or television commercial) that references an election, candidate, or ballot question to contain a conspicuous statement identifying the person paying for the communication in certain circumstances.
Under prior law, only a communication containing express words of advocacy, such as “vote for,” “elect,” “cast your ballot for,” and “vote against,” was required to contain an...
Michigan law requires a school board to adopt its budget before the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1). School officials should be aware of budget adoption legislation that took effect in 1995 (PA 40 of 1995), which significantly altered a school district’s obligations for truth-in-taxation and budget adoption procedures. That legislation permits a school district to dispense with the truth-in-taxation process if it takes certain steps as part of the budget adoption process.
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