Report: MI Schools Getting Short Changed

education74
education74

Michigan students will be missing out on almost $1 billion in funding this school year, and a new report blames what it calls “state budgeting gimmicks.” Voters approved the School Aid Fund more than two decades ago to support K-through-12 education, but research from the Michigan League for Public Policy shows over the past nine years, $4.5 billion from the fund was shifted to universities and community colleges. Report co-author Peter Ruark tells us it’s a tactic to prevent General Fund dollars from being used on higher education.

This is just a shell game to help legislators avoid the difficult decisions about revenue enhancements, which mean raising some taxes. We’ve cut taxes so much that now, we have to take them from public schools.”

The report says School Aid Fund money was shifted for the first time in 2010 as a one-time fix to help balance the budget after the recession. Governor Rick Snyder has continued to use fund dollars for higher education in every budget, starting with $400 million in 2012. Ruark adds the same year, lawmakers slashed per-student spending by $470 while approving a $1.6 billion tax cut for businesses.