LANSING, Mich., May 17, 2022 – State Rep. Julie M. Rogers (D-Kalamazoo) introduced House Bill 6100 to address forgiveness days for schools and staffing shortages caused by COVID-19. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education.
“As the sister of an educator, I know just how challenging the COVID-19 pandemic has been on our teachers, students, administrators and schools,” Rogers said. “To say this situation has been disruptive is an understatement. This is why I introduced House Bill 6100 — to provide our schools with some grace for the days that they had to close due to COVID-19 staffing issues. This is one way we can help our education system navigate these unprecedented circumstances.”
Specifically, the bill would forgive five to nine days that were impacted due to staffing shortages related to COVID-19. The bill defines “staffing shortage caused by COVID-19” as a shortage in staffing that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, as determined by the district.
“Between Michigan weather and ongoing student and staff absences due to COVID-19 illness, exposure and mandatory quarantining, many of our schools are now in complicated and challenging situations,” said Superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools Dr. Rita Raichoudhuri. “Given the circumstances, it only makes sense to provide our schools with an additional level of flexibility in order to ensure that we still receive our full amount of state aid funding.”
Similar legislation was signed into law in 2019 to forgive four additional snow days that occurred while the state was under a state of emergency due to extreme cold temperatures during the 2018-2019 school year.
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