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Michigan Legislature· HB 4557PA 11 of 2026

Education: examinations; certain requirements concerning the Michigan merit examination; modify, the official text

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Act No. 11

Public Acts of 2026

Approved by the Governor

May 14, 2026

Filed with the Secretary of State

May 14, 2026

EFFECTIVE
DATE: June 30, 2026

state of michigan

103rd Legislature

Regular session of 2026

Introduced by Reps. Koleszar, Weiss, Johnsen and Kunse

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4557

AN ACT to amend 1979 PA 94,
entitled “An act to make appropriations to aid in the support of the public
schools, the intermediate school districts, community colleges, and public
universities of the state; to make appropriations for certain other purposes
relating to education; to provide for the disbursement of the appropriations;
to authorize the issuance of certain bonds and provide for the security of
those bonds; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments,
the state board of education, and certain other boards and officials; to create
certain funds and provide for their expenditure; to prescribe penalties; and to
repeal acts and parts of acts,” by amending sections 22p and 104c (MCL
388.1622p and 388.1704c), section 22p as amended by 2025 PA 15 and section 104c
as amended by 2021 PA 48; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

The People of the State of
Michigan enact:

Sec.
22p. (1) Subject to subsection (2), to receive funding under section 22b, a
district or public school academy that is assigned by the superintendent of
public instruction as a partnership district must have a signed 3-year
partnership district agreement with the department that includes all of the
following:

(a) Measurable benchmarks that the district or public school
academy will achieve for each school operated by the district or public school
academy that is subject to the partnership district agreement after 18 months
and after 36 months from the date the agreement was originally signed.
Measurable benchmarks under this subdivision must include all of the following:

(i) Pupils on track to meet or exceed grade
level proficiency, with consideration for district or public school academy
needs identified as required under section 21h.

(ii) Either of the following, as applicable:

(A) At least 1 proficiency or growth benchmark based on state
assessments described in section 104c.

(B) At least 1 proficiency or growth benchmark based on a
benchmark assessment described in section 104h.

(iii) Improved high school graduation rates,
as applicable.

(iv) Attendance rates.

(b) Accountability measures to be imposed if the district or
public school academy does not achieve the measurable benchmarks described in
subdivision (a) or section 21h(2)(b) for each school operated by the district
or public school academy that is subject to the partnership district agreement.
For a district assigned as a partnership district as described in this
subsection, accountability measures under this subdivision must include the
reconstitution of the school. For a public school academy assigned as a
partnership district as described in this subsection, accountability measures
under this subdivision may include the reconstitution of the school.

(c) For a public school academy assigned as a partnership
district as described in this subsection, a requirement that, if reconstitution
is imposed on a school that is operated by the public school academy and that
is subject to the partnership district agreement, the school must be
reconstituted as described in section 507, 528, or 561, as applicable, of the
revised school code, MCL 380.507, 380.528, and 380.561.

(d) For a district assigned as a partnership district as
described in this subsection, a provision that, if reconstitution is imposed on
a school that is operated by the district and that is subject to the
partnership district agreement, reconstitution may require closure of the
school building, but, if the school building remains open, reconstitution must
include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(i) The district shall make significant
changes to the instructional and noninstructional programming of the school
based on the needs identified through a comprehensive review of data in
compliance with section 21h.

(ii) The district shall review whether the
current principal of the school should remain as principal or be replaced.

(iii) The reconstitution plan for the school
must require the adoption of goals similar to the measurable benchmarks
included in the partnership district agreement, with a limit of 3 years to
achieve the goals. If the goals are not
achieved within 3 years, the superintendent of public instruction shall impose
a second reconstitution plan.

(2) If a district or public school academy is assigned as a
partnership district as described in subsection (1) during the current fiscal
year, it shall ensure that it has a signed partnership district agreement as
described in subsection (1) in place by not later than 90 days after the date
that it is assigned as a partnership district. If a district or public school
academy described in this subsection does not comply with this subsection, the
department shall withhold funding under section 22b for that district or public
school academy until the district or public school academy has a signed
partnership district agreement as described in subsection (1) in place.

Sec.
104c. (1) In order to receive state aid under this article, a district shall
administer the state assessments described in this section.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the department shall
develop and administer the Michigan student test of educational progress
(M-STEP) assessments in English language arts and mathematics. These
assessments shall be aligned to state standards.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the department shall
implement a summative assessment system that is proven to be valid and reliable
for administration to pupils as provided under this subsection. The summative
assessment system must meet all of the following requirements:

(a) The summative assessment system must measure student
proficiency on the current state standards, must measure student growth for
consecutive grade levels in which students are assessed in the same subject
area in both grade levels, and must be capable of measuring individual student
performance.

(b) The summative assessments for English language arts and
mathematics must be administered to all public school pupils in grades 3 to 11,
including those pupils as required by the individuals with disabilities
education act, Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the every student succeeds
act, Public Law 114-95.

(c) The summative assessments for science must be
administered to all public school pupils in at least grades 5 and 8,
including those pupils as required by the individuals with disabilities
education act, Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the every student succeeds
act, Public Law 114-95.

(d) The summative assessments for social studies must be
administered to all public school pupils in at least grades 5 and 8, including
those pupils as required by the individuals with disabilities education act,
Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the every student succeeds act,
Public Law 114-95.

(e) The content of the summative assessments must be aligned
to state standards.

(f) The pool of questions for the summative assessments must
be subject to a transparent review process for quality, bias, and sensitive
issues involving educator review and comment. The department shall post samples
from tests or retired tests featuring questions from this pool for review by
the public.

(g) The summative assessment system must ensure that
students, parents, and teachers are provided with reports that convey
individual student proficiency and growth on the assessment and that convey
individual student domain-level performance in each subject area, including
representative questions, and individual student performance in meeting state
standards.

(h) The summative assessment system must be capable of
providing, and the department shall ensure that students, parents, teachers,
administrators, and community members are provided with, reports that convey
aggregate student proficiency and growth data by teacher, grade, school, and
district.

(i) The summative assessment system must ensure the
capability of reporting the available data to support educator evaluations.

(j) The summative assessment system must ensure that the
reports provided to districts containing individual student data are available
within 60 days after completion of the assessments.

(k) The summative assessment system must ensure that access
to individually identifiable student data meets all the following:

(i) Is in compliance with 20 USC 1232g,
commonly referred to as the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974.

(ii) Except as may be provided for in an
agreement with a vendor to provide assessment services, as necessary to support
educator evaluations pursuant to subdivision (i), or for research or program
evaluation purposes, is available only to the student; to the student’s parent
or legal guardian; and to a school administrator or teacher, to the extent that
he or she has a legitimate educational interest.

(l) The summative assessment system must
ensure that the assessments are pilot tested before statewide implementation.

(m) The summative assessment system must ensure that
assessments are designed so that the maximum total combined length of time that
schools are required to set aside for a pupil to answer all test questions on
all assessments that are part of the system for the pupil’s grade level does
not exceed that maximum total combined length of time for the previous
statewide assessment system or 9 hours, whichever is less. This subdivision
does not limit the amount of time a district may allow a pupil to complete a test.

(n) The total cost of executing the summative assessment
system statewide each year, including, but not limited to, the cost of
contracts for administration, scoring, and reporting, must not exceed an amount
equal to 2 times the cost of executing the previous statewide assessment
after adjustment for inflation.

(o) The summative assessment system must not require more
than 3 hours in duration, on average, for an individual pupil to complete the
combined administration of the math and English language arts portions of the
assessment for any 1 grade level.

(p) The summative assessments for English language arts and
mathematics for pupils in grades 8 to 10 must be aligned to the college
entrance test portion of the Michigan merit examination required under section
1279g of the revised school code, MCL 380.1279g.

(4) The department shall offer benchmark assessments in the
fall and spring of each school year to measure English language arts and
mathematics in each of grades K to 2. Full implementation must occur not later
than the 2019-2020 school year. These
assessments are necessary to determine a pupil’s proficiency level before grade
3.

(5) This section does not prohibit districts from adopting
interim assessments.

(6) As used in this section, “English language arts” means
that term as defined in section 1279g of the revised school code, MCL
380.1279g.

Enacting section 1. Section 104b of the state
school aid act of 1979, 1979 PA 94, MCL 388.1704b, is repealed.

Enacting section 2.
This amendatory act takes effect June 30, 2026.

This act is ordered to take
immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of
Representatives

Secretary of the Senate

Approved___________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Governor
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