Already, unions and some Democratic officials are circulating claims of funding cuts as high as $2 billion. But such claims are not only inaccurate, they are designed to exploit the complexity of Michigans school funding system and the fact that few laypeople understand how it actually works. In 2010, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy published a series of School Funding Myths in an attempt to debunk some of the most common. The first myth, likely the most prevalent, is that the state foundation allowance is the amount of money per pupil each district receives from the state. In reality, the state foundation allowance is raised both from state and local sources of revenue. State taxpayers also support public schools with another $2 billion in categorical grants. This money is used to support schools serving at-risk populations, special education students and those meeting so-called best practices, among other things. A large portion of this money has been used in recent years to reduce the cost to school districts for the severely underfunded and increasingly expensive school employee pension system. When proponents of increased K-12 education spending refer to changes in the foundation allowance as evidence of state-level cuts, they are ignoring that additional $2 billion. They are essentially cherry picking the type of spending they like best and ignoring all the rest. Whether state spending on K-12 education has increased is not a question open for debate. It is a fact: Overall state spending has increased during each of the past three years. michigancapitolconfidential/19568
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 01:31:40 +0000
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