SB 677 Summary

• Changes the superintendent of public instruction's role from discretionary ("may") to mandatory ("shall") when suspending an authorizing body's power to issue new contracts for public school academies, urban high school academies, schools of excellence, and strict discipline academies due to inadequate oversight.

• Requires authorizing bodies to provide detailed annual accounting to school boards showing how fees and reimbursements collected from each academy were specifically expended, including an itemized list of use and purpose.

• Expands the superintendent's authority to order return of all collected fees to the school aid fund if an authorizing body fails to maintain appropriate oversight of operating academies.

• Modifies assessment requirements for strict discipline academies to use Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) or Michigan Merit Examination rather than previous MEAP testing standards.

• Updates authorizing body petition and reinstatement procedures through the state board when contract-issuing powers are suspended, with the state board establishing compliance benchmarks if the superintendent's suspension is deemed not arbitrary or capricious.