Schools Get $65 Per Pupil Back Under House K-12 Budget

 

School districts would see $65  of the cut they endured this fiscal year restored under a K-12 schools budget passed Wednesday by the House.

The chamber voted to give the schools $65 this fiscal year after the end of the school year, to help districts start up next fall without having to take out loans for cash flow, said budget chair Rep. Terry Brown (D-Pigeon).

The $65 restoration would then carry into the new fiscal year, so in essence districts will have taken a $100 cut. That compares to an additional $118 per pupil cut the Senate approved and a continuation of the $165 cut the governor proposed.

The School Aid Fund is expected to have more than $200 million in additional funds this fiscal year, as well as about that same amount next year. The news came after years of deficit projections for the SAF.

"We wanted to go with some cautious optimism," Mr. Brown said, noting the K-12 budget still relies on $400 million in federal stimulus dollars that won't be available in 2012.

The House budget assumes a $50 million carryforward into the 2011-12 fiscal year. Republicans opposed the budget, along with a handful of Democrats (those with districts that once received so-called 20j funding), with it passing on a 64-42 vote.

Among other major changes in the budget (SB 1163), the House joined the governor in agreeing to a Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System rate of 19.41 percent

Mr. Brown said all of those figures are estimates and aren't set in stone until actuaries are done.

Source: Gongwer  Michigan Report, 5.26.20