cost

Change is slow in coming to teachers' health-care reform
Posted by anixon July 06, 2008 00:01AM
This was to be the year that Michigan school officials mounted an aggressive attack on health-care costs.
As it turns out -- not so much.
Last fall, state lawmakers approved reforms designed to make it easier for school districts to shop for health insurance, one of their fastest-growing expenses.

School officials this year will likely wake up to the reality Michigan homeowners are facing: declining property values mean the loss of real money — value upon sale for homeowners and tax dollars for school districts.

News is percolating through the capital that sinking property and home values around the state could force state lawmakers to readjust the state school aid budget, because the dollars they thought would be available may not materialize. That could hurt efforts to create smaller high schools and pump more state support into early childhood education.