funding

BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

The head of a group pushing for school funding reforms says if the Legislature doesn't take action, his group will push for a ballot initiative.

"I am offended at the notion that we have to go to the ballot," said Tom White, chairman of Save Our Students, Schools and State (SOS) and former head of the Michigan School Business Officials organization. "But if we have to go, we will."

Education officials today popped a number of familiar government and tax reforms as long term-solutions for K-12 funding problems, but they didn't sell it as a fix for the projected Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 deficit.

The School Aid Fund is $425 million in the red, which translates to a $268 per-pupil cut, according to Monday's Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (See "At Least $1.725B Hole For FY '11," 1/11/10).

Tom GOODWIN, Grand Ledge Public Schools chief financial officer, acknowledged that the plan by the ad-hoc Practitioners Summit to Reform Michigan School Funding would not be enacted in the next 90 days.

"It will take years to implement," Goodwin said at a press conference today.

East Lansing -- College students are expected to gather at Michigan State University on Wednesday in support of a state-funded scholarship that helps them pay tuition bills.

The Michigan Senate has voted to eliminate funding for the Michigan Promise scholarship in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration wants to save at least a portion of the program that now provides up to $4,000 per student to help offset tuition costs.

About 96,000 students heading into school this fall are expecting a portion of the scholarship money.

The scholarship is in danger because of Michigan's growing state budget problems.

The Michigan State University College Democrats are helping to organize Wednesday's rally.

Dear Representative Bauer and Committee Members:

Today, Michigan Legislators are facing many difficult, unpopular
decisions. As high school principals who are put between ‘a rock and a hard place’ each day, we empathize with what you are going through.

In 1999, MASSP provided testimony to the Senate as to the critical need for an award system that would provide an incentive for students to take the HS MEAP. MASSP has not wavered in our support of the

On Monday I was with some association directors and the conversation was centered on lack of state dollars. A higher education person shared the Promise Scholarship for the Class of 2009 could be shifting to a needs based program thereby reducing the amount of available scholarship dollars and, the program would likely come to an end after this year.

So, today (Thurs., June 11th) I scheduled a meeting with the Chair of the House Higher Education appropriations committee so to get the facts on the demise of the Promise Award and share this news with our members in an article that is due.

Providing a College Education that Michigan families can afford

Some interesting facts:
As reported in the Detroit Free Press:
• Michigan’s 15 public universities increased tuition and fees more than those in any other state in 2006.
• Michigan’s public universities increased tuition and fees 37% between 2003 and 2006.
As reported in the New York Times:
• The rising cost of college-even before the recession-threatens to put higher education out of reach for most Americans.
• Net college costs of a four year public university to a median income family was 28 percent, families in the lowest 20 percent of median income paid 55 percent of their median income to educate their children. These total percentages are reflected after financial aid is applied

Senate Appropriations School Aid Subcommittee members reviewed the status of the proposed 2009-10 budget Tuesday, but in the process heard some hard reminders of the condition of the state's schools.

The majority of school districts are seeing declining enrollments, the subcommittee heard.

And the number of school districts that are technically bankrupt is growing, with dozens with extremely thin financial reserves, they were also told.

The news was grim, committee members were told, and subcommittee chair, Sen. Ron Jelinek (R-Three Oaks), agreed.

The subcommittee also indicated some concerns that the House-passed version of HB 4447* and HB 4438* were larger than the 2009-10 budget proposals made by Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Department of Education---House Bill 4438: The subcommittee spending proposal for the Department of Education totals $120.6 million, a nearly 27 percent increase over current year spending. However, nearly all the increase—some $22.2 million—reflects the anticipated transfer of the Library of Michigan from the Department of History, Arts and Libraries to the Department of Education. The subcommittee also restored funding for assisting teachers seeking national board certification and the alternative certifications programs at Central Michigan and Wayne State Universities.

Lawmakers thought they were doing the right thing when they scrapped the 180-day school year requirement and replaced it with the number of hours schools had to teach.

But after a recent study showed schools may be taking too much advantage of the situation, even Republicans are wondering if they made a mistake by baking the 1,098-hour requirement into the School Aid Fund budget in 2003.

"It didn't worked as we planned," confessed Senate Education Committee Chair Wayne KUIPERS (R-Holland).

The state's top educator echoed this observation today to the House Appropriations Committee. Superintendent Mike FLANAGAN said the system has been abused by some districts that merely tacked on two extra minutes at the end of the day.

While it is clear that the federal stimulus bill provides schools with significant help, how that money will be provided remained in dispute on Thursday. Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has proposed a $59-per-pupil cut in the foundation allowance and cuts in categorical programs, said the federal funds will more than offset that cut while legislative fiscal experts say the new money must be used to keep the foundation allowance at current levels.

Ms. Granholm told reporters that the stimulus funds mean schools "will be made whole" and that a coming supplemental would reverse the $59-per-pupil cut she recommended for 2009-10.