house

(July 17,08 - Gongwer News) On a 31-4 vote the Senate approved the 2008-09 K-12 School Aid budget, despite some bipartisan hesitation on a change in the bill to the definition of Detroit's status as a first-class school district.
The budget provides for per-pupil funding increases of between $56 to $112 per pupil with the state's poorer districts getting the larger increases.
And the measure includes $15 million to help finance the start of Governor Jennifer Granholm's proposal to tackle dropout rates by creating smaller high schools.

BY LORI HIGGINS - FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

HOUSE MOVES BUDGET BILLS –

The 2008-09 budgets for K-12 schools and the Department of Corrections cleared the House Appropriations Committee, receiving few changes from their subcommittee versions. Under the K-12 budget, the per-pupil foundation allowance would go up by a minimum of $55 per student and a maximum of $110 per student.

School officials this year will likely wake up to the reality Michigan homeowners are facing: declining property values mean the loss of real money — value upon sale for homeowners and tax dollars for school districts.

News is percolating through the capital that sinking property and home values around the state could force state lawmakers to readjust the state school aid budget, because the dollars they thought would be available may not materialize. That could hurt efforts to create smaller high schools and pump more state support into early childhood education.