HB 5294 Summary

• Requires public school academy contracts to prohibit educational management organizations (EMOs) that have business affiliations with charter school developers or their relatives from managing the academy.

• Mandates that academies cannot maintain management agreements with EMOs if their owners or officers served on any public school academy, urban high school academy, school of excellence, or strict discipline academy board within the preceding 2 years.

• Updates testing assessment references from Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) to Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) or Michigan Merit Examination throughout charter academy contract provisions.

• Adds enforcement mechanism requiring authorizing bodies to issue written notice and provide 30-day cure period before revoking contracts for violations of the new educational management organization restrictions.

• Applies similar restrictions to urban high schools, schools of excellence, and strict discipline academies to prevent conflicts of interest in management contracts.