Bay Mills Community College Recognized in Diverse Magazine
Charter School Authorizer and Community College, Bay Mills (BMCC), was recognized for its efforts to provide quality schools to students in Detroit and better prepare them for college in the future. The school describes themselves as a “community-based and culturally diverse environment that supports and maintains the Anishinaabek culture and language” with a curriculum “designed to integrate traditional Native American values with higher education as a way of preparing students to assume responsible roles in their respective communities.”

Click here to read the full article on pages 18-19 of the publication and learn how BMCC is making a difference in Detroit from about 350 miles away.

Health care cap update
Senate Bill 007, recently passed by the House and Senate, is headed to the Governor to be signed into law. This bill would create the "Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act." Beginning January 1, 2012 the bill would establish a maximum cap on payments that a public employer would be allowed to pay on annual premiums, reimbursements of co-pays, deductibles or payments into health savings accounts or similar accounts used for employee health care. The total payments allowable would be set at $5,500 for a single individual, $11,000 for an individual and spouse and $15,000 for family coverage. Beginning in 2012, the maximum payments permitted under this legislation are to be re-examined and adjusted annually by the State Treasurer no later than October 1 of each year.

Some public employers, excluding the state, could opt out of this hard cap plan by a majority vote of its governing body. In which case, the employer would be required to participate in the 80/20 plan, meaning they could pay no more than 80% of the total annual costs of all the medical benefit plans they offer to employees and elected officials. The public employer would be allowed to allocate the employee share of medical benefit plan costs among its employees as it saw fit.

Have you registered to attend the 14th Annual Michigan Charter School Conference?
Join us, November 7-8, at Cobo Hall in Detroit for two days of quality professional development. Our conference is the only one of its kind in the state and only here will you find charter specific sessions that will provide you with practices and tools you can implement the next day.

The charter school conference isn’t only about professional development though, attending the conference gives you the opportunity to network with people like you from around the state, connect with businesses that are there to serve your needs and build strong relationships with your team at our general session and keynote luncheon.

Click here to register today! Make sure you take advantage of our many discounts. Click here for more information.

Recognize inspiring educators today!
We need your nominations for the 2011 Charter School Administrator and Teacher of the Year. Each year we honor the winner and top nominees at the annual conference. These individuals exemplify excellence and we want to award them for their efforts. A nominee will show everyone statewide the quality school that you are a part of. Make sure that your school and the educators within are recognized. Click here to complete a nomination form today!

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