Schools Looking At $110-$55 More Per Pupil

Roughly half of the state's 782 traditional and charter schools could receive as much as $110 more per pupil in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 under the proposal House and Senate leadership is currently working on for the School Aid Fund.

Warning that the situation could change, House K-12 Appropriations Committee Chair Matt GILLARD (D-Alpena) said the current plan with the Senate is to continue using the "2x-x" funding formula of last year, in which school districts that receive the minimum state grant of $7,204 per student will receive $110 more per student.

Meanwhile, the 51 school districts would receive the maximum student funding level of $8,433 per student. The remaining districts will receive a per-pupil funding increase of something in between, but nearly 90 percent of all districts will get something closer to the $110 level, Gillard said.

The "2x-x" funding formula was created last year by House leaders to gradually correct the built-in inequality of the state's school funding system under Proposal A. In theory, the school districts on the low end of the funding scale will be brought up to those at the high end. In FY 2009, the $110-$55 plan would mean the lower-funded schools would see a 1.5 percent state funding increase, while the higher-funded schools would see a .6 percent increase.

The FY 2009 budget is one of only four of the state's 19 budgets that were not kicked to the Governor during the Friday night/Saturday morning session. The outstanding issue is whether the Legislature will allow the Governor to pull the trigger on her smaller high school proposals for large urban areas (See "Small High Schools, DRIC Left At Station," 6/27/08).

Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM wants to use $32 million a year in bonding money to pay for the plan, but Senate K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Ron JELINEK (R-Three Oaks) has been dead-set against bonding. One compromise could be to use the School Aid Fund for the Governor's plan, but that would come at the expense of the per-pupil foundation grant.

Already, the Governor's original plan of giving schools a $108- to $216-per-pupil increase is being halved because of declining state revenues. Even the Senate had wanted increases ranging from $70 to $140 per pupil. After the revised revenue estimates came in, the House changed its per-pupil proposal to $55 and $110.

Another issue that could come up in negotiations is funding for the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), which currently receives $1.75 million from the state. The Senate is recommending the funding stay flat, while the House and the Governor want to add another $5 million to the program.

Gillard said progress is being made on the budget, and sounded optimistic that common ground could be reached by the end of the month or when the Legislature reconvenes July 16. Most of the boilerplate language has been worked out, Gillard said, and the remaining items of difference are few.