name="2">366 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSISSenate
Bill 366
(Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEV’T - S.B. name="2">366 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSISSenate
Bill 366
(Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Alan L. Cropsey
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised School Code to eliminate the requirement that a district provide to its teachers each year a minimum number of professional development days.
Currently, the board of each school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy must provide at least five days of professional development to its teachers. The bill instead would require the school boards to comply with the professional development requirements of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act. (Under that Act, districts must meet adequate yearly progress standards or spend a portion of their Title I funds on professional development. Districts also may use some of their Title II funds for professional development. The Act does not mandate a particular number of professional development days.)
The bill also would eliminate the requirement that, for the first three years of their classroom teaching, new teachers receive at least 15 days of professional development (not including the five described above), the experience of effective practices in university-linked professional development schools, and regional seminars conducted by master teachers and other mentors.
MCL 380.1526 et al. - Legislative Analyst: Claire Layman
FISCAL IMPACT
By eliminating the five-day and the 15-day professional development requirements, and instead requiring districts to comply with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the bill would result in savings for all school districts. Under the NCLB Act, districts that fail to meet the adequate yearly progress requirements for two or more consecutive years will be required to spend at least 10% of their Title I funds for the following two years on professional development. Under the bill, districts meeting the adequate yearly progress requirements would not have to provide any professional development.
For districts meeting the NCLB Act requirements, the exact amount of savings is indeterminate since the cost of professional development for teachers varies widely among school districts and is directly related to the number of teachers in each district. Although the actual cost of professional development training is indeterminate, it is possible to estimate the savings attributable to the cost of hiring substitute teachers for each day that a full-time teacher is involved in professional development training. The statewide average cost of a substitute teacher on a per-day basis is $75. Thus, for the five days of professional development that are currently required annually for both new and veteran teachers, a school district could expect to save an estimated $375 per year per teacher who is absent due to professional development training. Based on the estimated 90,000 teachers statewide, the potential savings could reach $30 million to $35 million annually on a statewide basis. These estimated savings would be in addition to whatever savings resulted from avoiding the cost associated with the actual professional development training.
Date Completed: 4-30-03 - Fiscal Analyst: Joe CarrascoFloor\sb366 - Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.