Ann Arbor Parents for Schools

8 March — Lawmakers representing both parties from the House and Senate did meet yesterday and today to try and hammer out a budget compromise. The talks were cloaked in secrecy, but apparently involved more than just the six lawmakers named earlier; the Governor’s office was also represented, as was the Senate majority leader. The talks continue as the clock ticks on the school funding gap and the General Fund deficit.

7 March — The bipartisan joint working group on the state budget did not meet today as planned, and the reasons are unclear. The schedule change came amid talk in the capitol that House Democrats were looking for alternatives to the Governor’s budget proposal, especially the 2% tax on services.

Six members from both parties and houses will be meeting starting Wednesday (March 7) to work out a compromise on plugging the hole in the current year’s budget. The group has set a March 15 deadline for their report, which is also the date by which Governor Granholm wants a budget agreement passed. Republicans have objected to the Governor’s tying together solutions for the current and next fiscal years, because they feel it artificially builds pressure to increase taxes.

1 March — Talks on the state budget deficit for this year and next, including what to do about the hole in the School Aid Fund, have begun in earnest now that Governor Granholm’s budget proposals have been introduced as bills in the legislature. (For details on the budget proposals, see our summary on this page.) The Governor and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) have had their first face-to-face meeting about the budget after an earlier exchange of letters.

Public school officials have begun to speak out about the funding crisis which faces schools across the state. They not only decry the repeated resort to mid-year funding cuts, they also call for a reassessment of how public education is funded.

23 February — Press reports indicate that while Senate Republicans are keeping their alternate budget proposals “close to the vest,” a few details are seeping out. MIRS News, a state politics news service, reports that Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) indicated that the GOP plan would not take back the per-pupil increase for schools originally budgeted for this year, avoiding mid-year cuts.

22 February — An appropriations bill on school aid for FY2008 was introduced yesterday by Sens. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville) and minority leader Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek). The bill increases spending from the School Aid Fund by 2.9% to $11.986 billion, raising per-pupil foundation allowances by $178 from what was originally budgeted for the current year. (This brings the “basic” foundation allowance to $7,286 from $7,085, since the $23 “equity payment” for low-spending districts was factored in as well.)

Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Bellaire) proposed an amendment to the Michigan Constitution this week which would require per-pupil funding for K-12 schools be made equal statewide within 11 years. Even though the school funding system created by Proposal A in 1994 was aimed in part at closing the spending gap between wealthier and poorer districts, the gap was not closed completely and school systems which were spending more than the maximum allowance amount determined in 1994 (including Ann Arbor) have been allowed to levy local taxes to cover the difference.

15 February — According to press reports, the Republican majority on the Senate Appropriations committee has rejected Gov. Granholm’s executive order proposing limited budget cuts. Republican Senators objected to the fact that the Governor’s plan depended on new taxes to make up much of the shortfall in revenue. The defeat of the executive order also leaves school funding in limbo.

Governor Jennifer Granholm’s budget proposal for the 2008 fiscal year includes a number of provisions that affect school aid, including changes which would help plug the funding shortfall for the current year (fiscal 07). Below are some extracts from the release on the budget proposal with some commentary; a full analysis of the budget, and legislative action, will follow soon.