Once again @onetoughnerd breaks a promise to an entire generation of school children in the public school system, and the reactions from GOP lawmakers is cold and unnerving, to say the least. Are we learning ANYTHING from this Governor that gives you pause? Why would anyone want to reelect this cold and calculating corporate drone? #VoteDemocratin2014 Supts: Lawmakers Must Return To Hike School Funding A group of superintendents called on lawmakers today to return to Lansing “immediately” to increase funding going to classrooms across the state. If lawmakers dont, Dan BEHM, superintendent of Forest Hills Public Schools, argued this morning, the newly signed Fiscal Year 2015 budget could spur teacher cuts, program cuts and more schools to land on the verge of bankruptcy. “Over half of a million students this next year will receive a cut in funding compared to last year . . . of $10 per student,” Behm said. “Thats unacceptable at this point in time.” Four other superintendents joined Behm for a press conference inside the Capitol this morning. During the event, the school officials unveiled a letter to Gov. Rick SNYDER and lawmakers, asking them to return to Lansing this summer to reallocate K-12 funding. However, legislative leaders seemed to balk at the request today. They noted that overall state support for K-12 districts has increased by $1.1 billion since 2011. And they argued that educators response to budgets continue to be the same: “just send more money.” “Every school district thinks that their district needs more money and that theyre treated unfairly,” said Ari ADLER, spokesperson for House Speaker Jase BOLGER (R-Marshall). “The reality is that we are spending more on school funding in this state than we ever have.” Much of the debate focused today on how the money is being spent. Under the budget bill Snyder signed into law last week, schools that have smaller foundation allowances will receive bigger increases while schools that have larger foundation allowances will receive smaller increases. If a school district is at the top of the current funding scale, the district will get only $50 more in its per-pupil foundation allowance. If a school district is at the bottom of the funding scale, the district will get $175 more per-pupil. The argument from school superintendents is that $50 isnt enough to balance out rising retirements costs. According to their numbers, schools face “at least $60 more in per pupil mandated cost increases.” “People want to talk about the revenue side of the budget bill,” Behm said. “They dont want to talk about the cost side of the budget bill.” Superintendents argued that school districts receiving $50 more per pupil -- about 120 districts statewide -- would actually see a cut in net funding. Its an even bigger problem, the superintendents said, because many districts were basing their budget plans on the Governors original proposal to provide minimum increases of $83 per pupil. “We all had to make assumptions about how much we were going to get per-pupil,” said Yvonne CAAMAL CANUL, superintendent of the Lansing School District. “We were totally blindsided by the reductions. “And I personally was embarrassed by the inherent inequities in the per-pupil allocation distribution.” Likewise, Michael F. RICE, superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools, said under the budget, schools that need more funding the most tend to get the minimum increase. That means, he said, the state is giving less money to schools that need it more. “It turns the definition of equity on its head,” Rice said. But supporters of the budget tout the equity they see in the plan. By providing more dollars to schools at the bottom of the current funding scale, the budget continues to bridge the gap between schools that receive the most and those that receive the least. For instance, Lansing Schools will get the $50 increase, leaving the district at a total per-pupil foundation allowance of $7,418. As for Forest Hills, that district will get $50, putting it at $8,084. Both of those amounts are above the $7,251 schools at the bottom of the scale will receive. Rep. Bill ROGERS (R-Brighton), chair of the House Appropriations School Aid Subcomittee, said the budget significantly narrows the gap between school districts in the state. Dave MURRAY, spokesperson for the Governor, also touted the budget today. “This years budget increases the foundation grant by $175 per student for most districts,” Murray said. “Schools also received a significant assist in covering their employee pensions and could also receive money for adopting best practices.” But the superintendents want to see lawmakers go a step further. Behm said lawmakers could solve the funding problem by simply reallocating $20 million to bring the minimum foundation allowance increase up to $83 per-pupil -- the amount Snyder originally proposed. Behm suggested lawmakers could take the $20 million out of $108 million total that he said was allocated to go toward retirement costs in 2020. “Its effectively under some state mattress,” he said. Once again, lawmakers werent thrilled with that idea. “That is a long term mortgage,” Rogers said of the retirement costs. “We should be paying that thing down.” Adler said that if lawmakers dont pay off long-term debt and instead spend the money today, the state would end up back up in the financial situation its trying to get out of. “Unless there are money trees growing in Forest Hills that were unaware of,” Adler said, “theres only so much cash to go around.”
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 02:51:51 +0000
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