States should do more across all professional certifications to expand reciprocity of certifications. This provides for more employment resources, especially in areas of need.

Sen. Nesbitt voted yes.

Wendzel voted yes.

Bill passed and signed by governor.

Bill Details

Signed into law July 27, 2023: PA 111 of 2023

The post SB 162 – Expand reciprocity for out of state school counselors. appeared first on Almena Township GOP.

CapCon article

Sen. Nesbitt voted no.

Wendzel voted no.

Bill passed and signed by governor.

Bill Details

Signed into law July 26, 2023: PA 115 of 2023

The post HB 4354: Allow teachers unions to bargain to keep bad teachers. appeared first on Almena Township GOP.

Per Gongwer:

“the first all-Democratic government in 40 years, combined with the previous Republican Legislature leaving billions in unspent one-time surplus revenues unused last year, produced an avalanche of spending on items like school pools, new school buildings, funds for career and technical centers and a slew of nonprofits doing work in the education space.”the first all-Democratic government in 40 years, combined with the previous Republican Legislature leaving billions in unspent one-time surplus revenues unused last year, produced an avalanche of spending on items like school pools, new school buildings, funds for career and technical centers and a slew of nonprofits doing work in the education space.

Some of the School Aid Fund surplus also went outside of K-12 for projects: $30 million was appropriated to Michigan State University for an engineering and digital innovation center, for example.

In total, a Gongwer News Service analysis of the education omnibus budget (SB 173) showed $335.4 million in School Aid Fund monies spent on 77 different earmarked items not generally designed to be available to most or all K-12 school districts. If those funds were placed into the foundation allowance, it would translate to another $241 per pupil.”

Nesbit voted no. But in a secret vote, again crossed lines to help Democrats in their spending spree, by voting for immediate effect.

Nesbitt voted no on SB174 supplemental bill.

Wendzel voted no.

Bill Details

Signed into law July 20, 2023: PA 103 of 2023

The post SB 173/174 – K-12 “School Aid” annual budget. Sen. Nesbitt again helps Democrats in their spending spree by voting for immediate effect. appeared first on Almena Township GOP.

Fact is, despite huge funding increases in schools over the past 50 years, student performance has continued to wane. And parents get less bang for their buck as test scores drop, and schools simply promote children to the next grade whether they have the subject competencies or not.

Schools don’t provide easy access to usable information on how students perform on aptitude tests. (Less than half of Paw Paw Public school kids meet standards on most subjects.) If schools were honest with parents on academic performance of their student populations, these state indices would be unnecessary. For now, it’s all they’ve got.

Sen. Nesbitt voted no.

Wendzel voted no.

Bill passed and signed by governor.

Bill Details

Signed into law May 22, 2023: PA 34 of 2023

The post HB 4166: Eliminate A-F school performance index. appeared first on Almena Township GOP.

Sinking funds are used to pay for infrastructure and capital improvements. Republicans attempted to limit the length of sinking fund millages from 20 down to 10 years. And they also attempted to have the Democrats follow the law as the bill would require a three-quarters vote to pass because it increased the statutory limits for ad valorem property taxes for schools. Both attempts failed and no Republican amendments were allowed.

Sen. Nesbitt voted for the minority amendment to limit duration of sinking fund tax which failed 17 – 21.

Sen. Nesbitt voted no on passage

Wendzel voted no on passage.

Signed into law May 8, 2023: PA 26 of 202

Bill Details

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