LANSING – A push by Governor Rick Snyder to revive one of his top legislative priorities, to codify and expand the powers of the Education Achievement Authority that oversees the worst-performing schools in the state, is leading to talk of possible movement in the Senate before the end of the year.

HB 4369 has been sitting in the Senate Education Committee since early April, largely because of a disagreement over a critical change the House made to persuade some reluctant Republicans to vote yes. The change would allow school districts to choose to put their lowest-performing schools under the control of either the EAA or their local intermediate school district. The legislation would phase in the cap in the number of schools that could come under the control of the EAA to 50.

“There seems to be, I wouldn’t call it an agreement in principle, but an agreement that conceptually we can get something done,” Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) said. “So everything was put on the table and the differences for the first time I think were articulated, and I think both sides are working for something to get done. I think soon too.”

But Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he sees no reason to try to wrap up work before the end of the year. He remains opposed to the role for ISDs in the legislation.

Pavlov said the Education Committee already has a full agenda for the month.

“I don’t know if it’s a two-week timeframe, but we continue to work the issue back and forth. We’re still talking about it,” he said. “I don’t see a critical timeframe.”

Snyder press secretary Sara Wurfel said the EAA legislation has remained a point of emphasis for the administration in the Legislature.

“It’s always been important and something we’ve been continually working on,” she said.

Democrats revived their attacks on the EAA as a failure. Senate Democrats questioned how Snyder can continue to support the EAA when pupils continue to leave it for other schools.

“The EAA has proven to be a complete disaster from the moment they opened their doors yet the governor’s office is fixated on expanding it,” said Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Taylor), the lead Democrat on the Senate Education Committee.

There was one other point of confusion. Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) said at a Senate Democratic news conference that Richardville planned to move the bill out of the Education Committee and send it to the Senate Government Operations Committee, which Richardville chairs.

Later in the day, Whitmer said it appeared Richardville had changed his mind and would keep the bill in the Senate Education Committee. Richardville’s office had no comment on the matter. Pavlov said he was not aware of any plans to move the bill to a different committee.

One Senate Republican source said it appeared Richardville might have misspoken about his intentions on the bill. A Senate Democratic source was not so sure, saying it seemed he reversed course once his intentions went public.

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