Lansing, Mich. (WZMQ) – This past week brought single-digit temperatures and some of the first substantial snowfall of the season. School districts across the state also saw some of the first cancelations because of the weekend winter storm.
Lansing only saw a couple of inches of snow, but schools across the U.P. saw some of their first cancelations as portions of the peninsula got over 15 inches of accumulation.
Jessica Beagle is a Departmental Specialist with the Office of Financial Management for State Aid and School Finance. She explained that Michigan is a ‘local control state’, which means each district makes its own decision regarding any cancelations, and how any extra days are made up.
The Department of Education allows six cancelations per school year for things outside of the district’s control, typically snow or inclement weather days.
“They can use those at their discretion, once they have used those six days they have the ability to then ask the department for 3 additional days of what we call forgiven time,” Beagle explained. “They typically 90% of the time make up the day at the end of the school year.”
Beagle said there are some rare exceptions, in more extreme cases like the polar vortex that hit Michigan in 2019 the governor has the power to forgive snow days state-wide.
That January, average temperatures fell into negative double digits, even in the lower peninsula, causing schools to shut down for over a week in some districts.
Districts that are able, also have the option of giving work remotely as a way to manage its number of cancelations.
Diane Golzynski, Deputy superintendent of finance and operations with the Michigan Department of Education, said they try to keep in mind that students learn best when they are in space with a teacher, but that student safety is of the utmost importance.
new language was added to section 21f (mcl 388.1621f(14)) this year giving districts the option to transition to virtual instruction in the event of an emergency closure. if a district chooses to transition to virtual instruction for a day due to bad weather, it does not count as a cancellation. this is an alternative to canceling instruction for the day and does count as an instructional day toward the 180-day requirement. districts may choose to do this for a variety of reasons including to avoid accumulating cancelations or when they have exhausted their “forgiven” days for the year.
Jessica Beagle, Departmental Specialist with the Office of Financial Management for State Aid and School Finance
Winter is just starting to settle in the state, and the Department of Education gave a reminder to remain patient as districts make decisions on those cold and snowy days.
