Ann Arbor Parents for Schools

Reposted from Michigan Parents for Schools (mipfs.org).
Our lawmakers are once again at a crossroads, figuring out how to manage the tremendous decline in revenues for public services, including schools. Time is running out.

Constant readers will notice the shortage of news on the state K-12 education budget in recent months. There is a good reason: there hasn’t been any.

This article was published in the Other Voices series of op-ed columns by the Ann Arbor News on Sunday, June 14, 2009. The version posted on the Mlive.com web site is available here.

The school budget news from Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and other communities in Washtenaw County is disturbing, and for good reason. School officials say that in the next two years we will all be driving over the edge of a “funding cliff” that threatens to injure our public schools for years to come. Some school districts are on the brink of failure, while others are having to cut teaching staff for the first time in recent memory. The depth of the coming crisis varies for each district, but the crisis is coming just the same. The question is, should we try to do something about it? Should we the people, the taxpayers, be worried?

The answer should be a resounding “YES!”

Ballot proposals always seem to be written so that only a lawyer could understand them. Anyway, who has time to read them while people tap their feet waiting for your voting booth? Fear not, dear reader – we’re here to help.

Late Friday, Michigan’s top lawmakers hammered out a deal which both prevents last-minute cuts to schools and closes the current year’s deficit without a tax increase, but at a cost. Most of the cuts from the regular state budget went to fund increases for health care and prison beds, both of which are projected to increase because of the poor economy. To fill the overall gap, the Legislature intends to sell rights to some future tobacco settlement fund revenues (“securitize” these revenues), among other things. Closing the current year’s deficit without a tax increase is evidently part of an agreement with Senate Republicans not to block a vote on an income tax increase for fiscal 2008.

Read the rest of this story on the “Michigan Parents for Schools website”:http://www.miparentsforschools.org/node/82.

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Make your voices heard!

The school funding situation is at a critical juncture. State officials have just finished their review of expected tax collections. They found that revenues earmarked for schools will come in even lower than expected in January — $153 million lower than the earlier estimates that were already revised downward. That means a total shortfall of as much as $560 million for this year and cuts to districts of $116 per pupil right at the end of the year unless new money is found.

See the rest of this action alert on the Michigan Parents for Schools web site.

The recent fuss in the Legislature with budget agreements that weren’t and battling press releases has made it fairly clear that the Republican majority in the Senate is looking for cover on increasing taxes, but Democratic lawmakers are reluctant to give it to them.

See the rest of this story on the Michigan Parents for Schools web site:
http://www.miparentsforschools.org/node/76

Gov. Granholm made it official – aid to school districts will be cut by June 1st unless the Legislature acts. Speaking to the news media, the governor reiterated her frustration with the Legislature’s inaction. “Nobody is more frustrated than I am,” she said. “The Legislature has not filled that hole. The clock starts ticking today.” If other funds are not found, the cuts would amount to approximately $122 per pupil taken out of school districts’ final aid payments, and a further $8 million in cuts to intermediate school districts.

The state Senate yesterday gave its approval to a bill that closes about $300 million of the school-aid deficit for this year, even though it fails to account for $62 million of the deficit originally projected in January. State budget officials say Governor Granholm will sign the bill. Left unresolved is the question of how the growing school aid deficit, now reckoned to be an additional $150 million below the mark, will be handled.