Michigan High School Diploma for a Veteran Who Left School to Serve

2001 PA 181 lets the board of a school district award a high school diploma to a qualified military veteran. The word to notice is "may". Unlike South Dakota, where the chosen district shall award the diploma, the Michigan board has a discretion. Section 35.343 requires the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to notify each school district board of the act and to take steps to encourage each district to meet its objective, which is what a statute says when it cannot compel. Who qualifies. All four conditions must be met. Before graduating from high school the veteran enlisted in or was drafted into the armed forces during the Second World War between December 16, 1940 and December 31, 1946, during the Korean conflict between June 27, 1950 and January 31, 1955, or during the Vietnam era between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975. At the time of the draft or enlistment the veteran was enrolled in a high school in the school district to which the application is made. The veteran did not graduate from high school. And the veteran served under honorable conditions during that conflict. The second condition is the binding one and it is different from the equivalent statutes elsewhere. The application must go to the district the veteran was actually enrolled in, not one of the veteran's choosing. If that district has since been consolidated or dissolved, the successor district is where the application has to go, and the veteran has no alternative. The Michigan war periods are their own. December 16, 1940 for the Second World War is a year before Pearl Harbor and is earlier than the federal period. The Korean conflict runs to January 31, 1955 rather than to the armistice in July 1953. The Vietnam era begins on February 28, 1961, which is the date used for a veteran who served in country. A veteran whose service fell only between February 1955 and February 1961 is in a gap and does not qualify however long the service was. Who may apply. The veteran, or the veteran's spouse, brother or sister, children, or grandchildren. That is unusually wide and is designed for a family applying on behalf of someone who has died or cannot manage the paperwork, although the act does not say in terms that a posthumous award is permitted. The application form is prescribed by the veterans affairs directorate of the department.