SBAM’s top legislative priority in the last week of the legislative session was preserving the law that schools in Michigan cannot start until after Labor Day.
As we reported in our last issue, the legislature was working on education reforms to qualify for the Race to the Top federal program.
House versions of the bill included provisions that would have allowed schools to begin prior to Labor Day. Because of the importance of tourism in Michigan and the shortening of the tourism season that this would have caused, we worked to keep this out of the final bill.
We are proud to report that because of our efforts and those of the tourism industry, we were able to defeat those efforts. Special thanks goes out to State Senator Wayne Kuipers in assisting us in our efforts.
The bills passed the legislature without the Labor Day language in a prolonged weekend session.