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HOUSE BILL NO. 6024
A bill to amend 1979 PA 94, entitled
"The state school aid act of 1979,"
by amending section 104b (MCL 388.1704b), as amended by 2025 PA 56.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 104b. (1) In order to receive state aid under this 1
article, a district shall comply with this section and shall 2
administer the Michigan merit examination to pupils in grade 11, 3
and to pupils in grade 12 who did not take the complete Michigan 4
merit examination in grade 11, as provided in this section. The 5
Michigan merit examination consists of a college entrance test, 6
June 02, 2026, Introduced by Reps. Paquette, Kelly, Wortz, Greene, Pavlov and Posthumus and
referred to Committee on Education and Workforce.
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work skills test, and the summative assessment known as the 1
Michigan student test of educational progress (M-STEP). 2
(2) For the purposes of this section, the department of 3
technology, management, and budget shall contract with 1 or more 4
providers to develop, supply, and score the Michigan merit 5
examination. The Michigan merit examination shall must consist of 6
all of the following: 7
(a) Assessment instruments that measure English language arts, 8
mathematics, reading, and science, and are used by the majority of 9
colleges and universities in this state for entrance purposes. This 10
may include 1 or more writing components. In selecting assessment 11
instruments to fulfill the requirements of this subdivision, the 12
department may consider the degree to which those assessment 13
instruments are aligned to this state's content standards. A pupil 14
may elect to take the Classic Learning Test (CLT) to fulfill the 15
requirements of this subdivision. 16
(b) One or more tests from 1 or more test developers that 17
assess a pupil's ability to apply at least reading and mathematics 18
skills in a manner that is intended to allow employers to use the 19
results in making employment decisions. The department of 20
technology, management, and budget and the superintendent shall 21
ensure that any test or tests selected under this subdivision have 22
all the components necessary to allow a pupil to be eligible to 23
receive the results of a nationally recognized evaluation of 24
workforce readiness if the pupil's test performance is adequate. 25
Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, a pupil may elect not to 26
take a test described in this subdivision through a waiver that is 27
developed by the department, made available on the department's 28
website, and both signed by the pupil's parent or legal guardian 29
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and submitted to the pupil's school district, intermediate school 1
district, or public school academy by not later than February 28 of 2
the school year in which the test will be administered. The 3
department shall consult with an individual who represents business 4
in this state, an individual who represents manufacturing in this 5
state, and an individual who represents skilled trades 6
organizations in this state to develop an informational letter 7
about the purpose and benefits of the workforce readiness 8
assessment. A school district, intermediate school district, or 9
public school academy shall ensure that the informational letter is 10
provided to all pupils described in subsection (1) and the parents 11
or legal guardians of those pupils by not later than December 31 of 12
the school year in which the test will be administered. 13
(c) A social studies component. 14
(d) Any other component that is necessary to obtain the 15
approval of the United States Department of Education to use the 16
Michigan merit examination for the purposes of the no child left 17
behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student 18
succeeds act, Public Law 114-95. 19
(3) In addition to all other requirements of this section, all 20
of the following apply to the Michigan merit examination: 21
(a) The department of technology, management, and budget and 22
the superintendent shall ensure that any contractor used for 23
scoring the Michigan merit examination supplies an individual 24
report for each pupil that will identify for the pupil's parents or 25
legal guardians and teachers whether the pupil met expectations or 26
failed to meet expectations for each standard, to allow the pupil's 27
parents or legal guardians and teachers to assess and remedy 28
problems before the pupil moves to the next grade. 29
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(b) The department of technology, management, and budget and 1
the superintendent shall ensure that any contractor used for 2
scoring, developing, or processing the Michigan merit examination 3
meets quality management standards commonly used in the assessment 4
industry, including at least meeting level 2 of the capability 5
maturity model developed by the Software Engineering Institute of 6
Carnegie Mellon University for the first year the Michigan merit 7
examination is offered to all grade 11 pupils and at least meeting 8
level 3 of the capability maturity model for subsequent years. 9
(c) The department of technology, management, and budget and 10
the superintendent shall ensure that any contract for scoring, 11
administering, or developing the Michigan merit examination 12
includes specific deadlines for all steps of the assessment 13
process, including, but not limited to, deadlines for the correct 14
testing materials to be supplied to schools and for the correct 15
results to be returned to schools, and includes penalties for 16
noncompliance with these deadlines. 17
(d) The superintendent shall ensure that the Michigan merit 18
examination meets all of the following: 19
(i) Is designed to test pupils on this state's content 20
standards in all subjects tested. 21
(ii) Complies with requirements of the no child left behind act 22
of 2001, Public Law 107-110 or the every student succeeds act, 23
Public Law 114-95. 24
(iii) Is consistent with the code of fair testing practices in 25
education prepared by the Joint Committee on Testing Practices of 26
the American Psychological Association. 27
(iv) Is factually accurate. If the superintendent determines 28
that a question is not factually accurate and should be excluded 29
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from scoring, the state board and the superintendent shall ensure 1
that the question is excluded from scoring. 2
(4) A district shall include on each pupil's high school 3
transcript all of the following: 4
(a) For each high school graduate who has completed the 5
Michigan merit examination under this section, the pupil's scaled 6
score on each subject area component of the Michigan merit 7
examination. 8
(b) The number of school days the pupil was in attendance at 9
school each school year during high school and the total number of 10
school days in session for each of those school years. 11
(5) The superintendent shall work with the provider or 12
providers of the Michigan merit examination to produce Michigan 13
merit examination subject area scores for each pupil participating 14
in the Michigan merit examination. To the extent that the 15
department determines that additional test items beyond those 16
included in the college entrance component of the Michigan merit 17
examination are required in a particular subject area, the 18
department shall ensure that all test items in that subject area 19
are scaled and merged for the purposes of producing a Michigan 20
merit examination subject area score. The superintendent shall 21
design and distribute to districts, intermediate districts, and 22
nonpublic schools a simple and concise document that describes the 23
scoring for each subject area and indicates the scaled score ranges 24
for each subject area. 25
(6) The Michigan merit examination must be administered in 26
each district during the last 12 weeks of the district's school 27
year. The superintendent shall ensure that the Michigan merit 28
examination is scored and the scores are returned to pupils, their 29
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parents or legal guardians, and districts not later than the 1
beginning of the pupil's first semester of grade 12. The returned 2
scores must indicate at least the pupil's scaled score for each 3
subject area component and the range of scaled scores for each 4
subject area. In reporting the scores to pupils, parents, and 5
schools, the superintendent shall provide standards-specific, 6
meaningful, and timely feedback on the pupil's performance on the 7
Michigan merit examination. 8
(7) A district shall administer the complete Michigan merit 9
examination to a pupil only once and shall not administer the 10
complete Michigan merit examination to the same pupil more than 11
once. If a pupil does not take the complete Michigan merit 12
examination in grade 11, the district shall administer the complete 13
Michigan merit examination to the pupil in grade 12. If a pupil 14
chooses to retake the college entrance examination component of the 15
Michigan merit examination, as described in subsection (2)(a), the 16
pupil may do so through the provider of the college entrance 17
examination component and the cost of the retake is the 18
responsibility of the pupil unless all of the following are met: 19
(a) The pupil has taken the complete Michigan merit 20
examination. 21
(b) The pupil meets the income eligibility criteria for free 22
breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under the Richard B. 23
Russell national school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769i. 24
(c) The pupil has applied to the provider of the college 25
entrance examination component for a scholarship or fee waiver to 26
cover the cost of the retake and that application has been denied. 27
(d) After taking the complete Michigan merit examination, the 28
pupil has not already received a free retake of the college 29
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entrance examination component paid for either by this state or 1
through a scholarship or fee waiver by the provider. 2
(8) The superintendent shall ensure that the length of the 3
Michigan merit examination and the combined total time necessary to 4
administer all of the components of the Michigan merit examination 5
are the shortest possible that will still maintain the degree of 6
reliability and validity of the Michigan merit examination results 7
determined necessary by the superintendent. The superintendent 8
shall ensure that the maximum total combined length of time that 9
schools are required to set aside for pupils to answer all test 10
questions on the Michigan merit examination does not exceed 8 hours 11
if the superintendent determines that sufficient alignment to 12
applicable Michigan merit curriculum content standards can be 13
achieved within that time limit. 14
(9) A district shall provide accommodations to a pupil with 15
disabilities for the Michigan merit examination, as provided under 16
section 504 of title V of the rehabilitation act of 1973, 29 USC 17
794; subtitle A of title II of the Americans with disabilities act 18
of 1990, 42 USC 12131 to 12134; the individuals with disabilities 19
education act amendments of 1997, Public Law 105-17; and the 20
implementing regulations for those statutes. The provider or 21
providers of the Michigan merit examination and the superintendent 22
shall mutually agree on the accommodations to be provided under 23
this subsection. 24
(10) To the greatest extent possible, the Michigan merit 25
examination must be based on this state's content standards, as 26
appropriate. Annually, after each administration of the Michigan 27
merit examination, the department shall provide a report of the 28
points per standard so that teachers will know what content will be 29
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covered within the Michigan merit examination. The department may 1
augment the college entrance and work skills components of the 2
Michigan merit examination to develop the assessment, depending on 3
the alignment of those components to this state's content 4
standards. If these components do not align to these standards, the 5
department shall produce additional components as required by law, 6
while minimizing the amount of time needed for assessments. 7
(11) A child who is a student in a nonpublic school or home 8
school may take the Michigan merit examination under this section. 9
To take the Michigan merit examination, a child who is a student in 10
a home school shall contact the district in which the child 11
resides, and that district shall administer the Michigan merit 12
examination, or the child may take the Michigan merit examination 13
at a nonpublic school if allowed by the nonpublic school. Upon 14
request from a nonpublic school, the superintendent shall direct 15
the provider or providers to supply the Michigan merit examination 16
to the nonpublic school and the nonpublic school may administer the 17
Michigan merit examination. If a district administers the Michigan 18
merit examination under this subsection to a child who is not 19
enrolled in the district, the scores for that child are not 20
considered for any purpose to be scores of a pupil of the district. 21
(12) In contracting under subsection (2), the department of 22
technology, management, and budget shall consider a contractor that 23
provides electronically-scored essays with the ability to score 24
constructed response feedback in multiple languages and provide 25
ongoing instruction and feedback. 26
(13) The purpose of the Michigan merit examination is to 27
assess pupil performance in mathematics, science, social studies, 28
and English language arts for the purpose of improving academic 29
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achievement and establishing a statewide standard of competency. 1
The assessment under this section provides a common measure of data 2
that will contribute to the improvement of Michigan schools' 3
curriculum and instruction by encouraging alignment with Michigan's 4
curriculum framework standards and promotes pupil participation in 5
higher level mathematics, science, social studies, and English 6
language arts courses. These standards are based on the 7
expectations of what pupils should learn through high school and 8
are aligned with national standards. 9
(14) For a pupil enrolled in a middle college program, other 10
than a middle college operated as a shared educational entity or a 11
specialized shared educational entity, if the pupil receives at 12
least 50% of the pupil's instruction at the high school while in 13
grade 11, the Michigan merit examination shall must be administered 14
to the pupil at the high school at which the pupil receives high 15
school instruction, and the department shall include the pupil's 16
scores on the Michigan merit examination in the scores for that 17
high school for all purposes for which a school's or district's 18
results are reported. The department shall allow the middle college 19
program to use a 5-year graduation rate for determining adequate 20
yearly progress. As used in this subsection, "middle college" means 21
a program consisting of a series of courses and other requirements 22
and conditions, including an early college or other program created 23
under a memorandum of understanding, that allows a pupil to 24
graduate from high school with both a high school diploma and a 25
certificate or degree from a community college or state public 26
university. 27
(15) As used in this section: 28
(a) "English language arts" means reading and writing. 29
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(b) "Social studies" means United States history, world 1
history, world geography, economics, and American government. 2
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect 3
unless House Bill No. 6023 (request no. H06707'26) of the 103rd 4
Legislature is enacted into law. 5