School Aid Passes Senate... Waiting for House Vote Next Wednesday

(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.
SB 1107 now goes to the House where approval is expected next week. The measure is the largest single budget the state adopts.
The budget in SB 1107 totals $13.789 billion, $481.1 million more than the current year's budget. Just $40.8 million of that is in general funds, and that is $5.9 million more than the current year.
Despite the increase, the budget is in fact smaller than any version proposed to date. Governor Jennifer Granholm had called for the budget to total $13.5 billion, the House had passed a version that totaled $13.4 billion, and the Senate passed a version that set the total at $13.38 billion.
The budget is smaller mostly because of smaller than anticipated revenues and a smaller anticipated school population.
Under the budget, the minimum foundation allowance paid for each student attending state public schools will be $7,316. Bloomfield Hills, which is one of the districts receiving the highest per-pupil allotment, will see an increase of $56 per pupil to $12,443 per student.
The 21st Century Schools proposal Ms. Granholm pushed is less than half what she had hoped to receive and the $15 million will not be used to back up bonding. Instead, the money will be allocated in $3 million grants to school districts where the graduation rate is lower than 70 percent. The money can be used to begin planning and begin construction of new schools so long as the district matches the grant.
But if the school district did not graduate at least 80 percent of its students by the third year of the grant then the district would have to return at least 50 percent of the initial grant.
In the conference committee, however, Sen. Cameron Brown (R-Fawn River Twp.) and Rep. Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale) raised questions about the changes to the definition of a first-class district, the only one of which is Detroit.
Under the state's school code to retain that distinction a district has to have at least 100,000 pupils. As Detroit schools have struggled with financial problems, however, the enrollment has fallen as parents in the city have sent their children to charter schools or left the city.
The budget proposal redefines a first class district as having at least 60,000 students. Asked how the two conflicting sections will be resolved, lawmakers were told that legal counsel has said the section most recently amended takes precedence.
But some privileges that Detroit now has would no longer apply, including a provision that other districts could not create new schools within the city's boundaries without permission of the district.
Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman (D-Detroit) opposed the budget bill, calling it another in a series of actions by the Legislature to hamper the Detroit schools effort to improve education, noting that money for pre-engineering programs in Detroit and Grand Rapids that both chambers had approved is missing in the final version. With Detroit no longer able to veto the establishment of new charter schools, she said, "This will contribute to the declining enrollment this district is experiencing."
Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), chair of the Senate Education Committee, also opposed it for "going down a very dangerous course" with the revised description of Detroit schools. "That's a fairly significant gift for the city of Detroit, a gift for which we get nothing in return," he said. "I've had a number of parents come in and beg me to not adopt a business as usual strategy. By passing this we are sending a message that we don't care about these kids."
But Sen. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville) said the bill does some "very important things," such as increasing funds for early childhood and implementing small high schools without resorting to bonding.
Attached is the bill summary.