House Democrats have announced legislation that completes the charter public school policy they would likely pursue if they gain control of that chamber. Under the House Democrats’ plan, a moratorium on new charter schools would be imposed until the new regulations that they are proposing were enacted.

House Bill 5852, which was introduced in September, would put the charter school moratorium in place. House Bills 5915 through 5918, announced on Oct. 21 — plus the previously introduced House Bill 5696 — would provide the new charter school "transparency and accountability" standards.

With only a few legislative session days remaining in 2014, virtually no one expects the package of bills to get a hearing this year, let alone to move. In addition, there’s little reason to think Gov. Rick Snyder would be supportive of the legislation.

“We can’t comment on the details of a bill that has not yet been introduced,” Snyder spokesman Dave Murray told Capitol Confidential. “But, in general, Gov. Snyder doesn’t believe public schools should be treated differently from each other. He’s in favor of raising the standards and increasing accountability for all public schools – traditional and charter – and hopes that is a discussion that can start rather soon.”

Even if there was adequate legislative time for doing so, it is doubtful that the charter moratorium bills would see the light of day as long as the House remains under Republican control. Nonetheless, House Democrats could be expected to introduce the same – or very similar – legislation in 2015, whether or not the upcoming election gives them a majority in the House.

“No matter how they attempt to present it, this legislation represents defenders of the conventional school status quo who do not want competition,” Gary Naeyaert, executive director of the Great Lakes Education Project, told Capitol Confidential. “The purpose is to deprive students and parents of the opportunity to choose.”

At the press conference announcing the bills that would complete the package, Rep. Sarah Roberts, D-St. Clair Shores, sponsor of House Bill 5915, as well as House Bill 5852 (the moratorium measure) asserted that the issue at hand was charter school transparency and accountability.

“For-profit education management organizations receive public tax dollars from the charter schools they contract to operate,” Rep. Roberts said. “They must be held publicly accountable for how they spend our tax dollars, just like every other public school. For-profit educational management organizations have claimed they don’t need to fully disclose how they spend our money because they are private companies. That is wrong.”

But according to Audrey Spalding, director of education policy with Mackinac Center for Public Policy, it is obvious that the proposed charter school moratorium legislation would restrict educational opportunities and freedom.

“The fact is, hundreds of thousands of parents and students choose charter schools,” Spalding said. “Each year, more and more students opt for charter schools because their conventional school is not serving their needs. If the people pushing this legislation are successful, they will be limiting educational options for students.”

House Democrats failed to get the four new bills they announced formally introduced during the week of Oct. 20-25. With no House sessions scheduled until after the election, their introduction won’t take place until the first full post-election House session.

“I think it’s ironic that the House Democrats held a press conference about transparency, but didn’t make the bills available to those attending the press conference,” Naeyaert said. “Then we find out the bills haven’t even been introduced yet and won’t be available until after the election. Clearly this effort is more about publicity than it is about policy.”

Rep. Roberts told Capitol Confidential that the bills couldn’t be introduced because House Republicans chose not to hold session that week and copies of the bills would have been made available if anyone had asked for them.

“Session was scheduled but the decision was made not to take attendance and actually hold the session,” Rep. Roberts said. “That wasn’t our decision or our fault. Regarding not being able to see the bills, neither Gary Naeyaert nor (Michigan Association of Public School Academies President) Dan Quisenberry called my office and asked for copies. If they had, we would have sent them copies.”

Rep. Roberts arranged to have copies of the bills sent immediately to Capitol Confidential upon request after she was interviewed for this article on Oct. 28.

According to Rep. Roberts, charter schools in Michigan are supposed to be subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as conventional schools, but claims that’s not what always happens in actual practice.

“On our website we show how [conventional] school districts report everything from what they spend on retirement, to art, to supplies, but when we pulled up what a charter school reported it was a single-page document and in one part they’d simply added $480,000 and some change,” Rep. Roberts said. “Why shouldn’t they have to disclose what that was?

“We also believe the authorizers should be required to report how they spend the up to 3 percent, they collect from charter schools,” Rep. Roberts added.

Spalding said claims that charter schools are less transparent that conventional schools are bogus.

“Charter schools are held to the same transparency standards as conventional schools,” Spalding said. “The statement that they are not is false, and has been refuted by several organizations. It is very sad that students face the threat of fewer educational options simply because some want to score political points.”

"For example, South Lake Schools – a school district in Rep. Roberts' own district – posted just a single page for its general fund budget. Rep. Roberts could ask the same question of South Lake. The district spent $540,191 on general administration, and no detail for that particular expenditure is provided on its transparency site."

In June, Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville, said he considered Michigan’s film credits to be “a waste” and criticized his GOP primary opponent, Rep. Kevin Daley, R-Lum, for supporting them.

But only weeks after winning his primary election, Sen. Green voted to extend Michigan’s film subsidy program beyond 2017 and eliminate the program’s cap on how many taxpayer dollars could be spent on out-of-state film industry salaries.

"He (Rep. Daley) has voted for the film credits about every time." Sen. Green told Capitol Confidential in June, while making his argument that he (Sen. Green) was more conservative than Rep. Daley. "In my opinion, the film credits are a waste. According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, they haven't created any jobs. I don't think we should be giving a penny toward the film credits.”

In spite of what he had said in June, on Oct. 21 Sen. Green voted for Senate Bill 1103, which – if enacted – would allow the film subsidy program that is currently scheduled to end after 2017 to continue indefinitely. In addition, the measure would do away with a $540,000 salary cap on how much actors, directors and producers could receive from the subsidies. The bill is being considered by the State House.

“The bill makes changes to the current credits,” Sen. Green told Capitol Confidential, explaining his ‘yes’ vote on Senate Bill 1103. “For one thing, we’d get a bigger tax return on them; it would be more lucrative for the state. I also believe this legislation provides better incentives for establishing movie locations in rural areas, like we have throughout most of my district.

“I knew the bill had the votes needed for passage anyway,” Sen. Green continued. “It is not as though I cast the 20th (deciding) vote on this. The bill didn’t appropriate any money and I (as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee) could still have something to say about that. But at least ... this would make the program a little bit better.”

An issue Rep. Daley attacked Sen. Green over in the primary race was that Sen. Green had voted against the right-to-work legislation in December of 2012 after pledging on camera to support a measure if one was ever brought up for a vote.

One of the points Sen. Green made in defense of his switch regarding the right-to-work issue was that he knew the bill would pass regardless of how he voted, which afforded him the opportunity to vote against it without impacting the outcome.

Rep. Daley described the fact that Sen. Green had voted in favor of Senate Bill 1103 after using the film credit issue against him (Rep. Daley) in the primary election as being “a shame.”

“I just think it’s a shame how in politics, within a matter of months, someone could change from using something against their opponent to going all the way over and voting in support of it,” Rep. Daley said. “I know that’s just the way politics go sometimes, but it’s a shame.”

Capitol Confidential asked Rep. Daley how he would vote on the film credit legislation (Senate Bill 1103) if it is brought up in the House during the upcoming lame duck session.

“I haven’t looked at the bill and I don’t know whether it is going to be brought up or not; but based on what I’ve heard about it, I would anticipate voting against it,” Rep. Daley said. “It sounds like it would undo everything we originally intended, which was that these (film credits) would end at a certain point – and, by the way, that was the context of my other votes on this issue’ – the votes over which I was accused of supporting the credits. Those votes were made with the basic understanding that this program was being phased out.”

“I’ve talked with some of my colleagues about being prepared to oppose it, if it is – in fact – brought up for a vote,” Rep. Daley continued. “Again, I don’t even know if the bill will be brought up for a vote or not, but you never know what might happen in lame duck.”

Ron Mindykowski, Sen. Green’s Democratic opponent in the 31st Senate District general election race, did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the federal Bureal of Labor Statistics, Michigan has fewer film jobs than it did in 2008, the year the initial subsidy was passed. The state has appropriated about $500 million since 2008.