TRANSFER STUDENT RECORD RELEASE        S.B. 492 (S-1):

        SUMMARY OF BILL

        REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senate Bill 492 (Substitute S-1 as reported)

Sponsor: Senator Jeremy Moss

Committee: Education

 

 

CONTENT

 

The bill would amend the Revised School Code to prohibit a school from providing a copy of a pupil’s student record to the school that the pupil had transferred to unless the previous school had received written confirmation from the transfer school that the pupil had been enrolled.

 

A request for student records would have to contain a pupil’s identifying information, including the pupil’s full name, date of birth, and grade level. Additionally, the bill would apply provisions of the Code related to the transfer of student records to the School for the Deaf.

 

MCL 380.1135

 

BRIEF RATIONALE

 

In February 2025, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office performed a wellness check on a Pontiac home and discovered three children, aged 15, 13, and 12, living in unsanitary conditions. The children claimed to have been abandoned by their mother four or five years previously. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the children’s mother used online services to deliver food to her children but did not provide other necessities like personal hygiene products.¹ The children did not attend school. The Sheriff’s Office believes that gaps in the school enrollment process contributed to their abandonment.² Allegedly, the mother pulled her children from school with the intent to enroll them in a new school, which requested transcripts from the previous school. The previous school released this information to the transfer school and un-enrolled them, but the children’s mother never enrolled them in the transfer school. Accordingly, some believe that the State should close this gap by requiring schools to ensure transfer students were reenrolled in their new schools before un-enrolling them.

 

        Legislative Analyst: Abby Schneider

 

FISCAL IMPACT

 

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

 

Date Completed: 10-29-25        Fiscal Analyst: Cory Savino, PhD

floor\sb492                Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.