State budget & taxes

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 — Steven Norton

Status report: Where do we stand today? (Budget, Part I)

It has been a busy few months at both the state and local levels, and we at MIPFS have fallen behind in our reporting on state-wide issues. In an effort to remedy that, these status reports will give brief summaries of what has happened on the school funding front over the last few months. More detailed reports on each of these issues are coming in the next weeks. In these reports, we'll cover three areas: The school aid budget cuts for 2009-10, legislation that was part of Michigan's Race to the Top application, and school funding-related issues in the current 2010-11 budget debate.

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Tue, 8 Dec 2009 — Steven Norton

A good race requires preparation

_The following action alert was sent out to MIPFS subscribers today._

Lets think clearly about the changes we make to qualify for Federal funding

Dear supporters of public education, This has been a busy fall for all of us at Michigan Parents for Schools, and you have have heard less from us than usual given the turmoil around education funding in Michigan. You will be hearing much more from us soon! But there is a fast-approaching issue which we wanted to bring to your attention today. Our main concern is that rapidly cobbled-together measures, designed to qualify Michigan to receive further Federal stimulus funding, will make permanent changes to our schools that have not received adequate consideration. We are especially concerned with the emphasis put on standardized testing as the primary measure of student achievement and the major factor in evaluating teachers, administrators and schools.
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Mon, 7 Dec 2009 — Steven Norton

Facing a clouded future: options

Part II: The problem, and a glimpse at solutions we might consider

In this two-part essay, MIPFS Executive Director Steve Norton reflects on the defeat of a proposed regional enhancement millage for the Washtenaw County area, and the choices it leaves school districts facing. While the details may differ, these same dilemmas face every school district in Michigan.

The poor state of Michigan’s economy, combined with bad tax policy choices in earlier years, mean that school districts across Michigan are having to make huge cuts after years of belt-tightening. The defeat of the Washtenaw Schools Millage has removed one option we had to soften the blow.

But remember: we still have kids to educate. AAPS’s total enrollment actually increased this year. Unlike, say, the auto industry, our schools are not in trouble because of a lack of customers. Demand for a good education has never been higher.

Moving forward, we have two issues on each of two levels: revenues and costs, at the local and state levels. Let’s look at each.

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Project Washtenaw
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Mon, 30 Nov 2009 — Steven Norton

Facing a clouded future

Part I: Reflections on the defeat of the Washtenaw Schools Millage

In this two-part essay, MIPFS Executive Director Steve Norton reflects on the defeat of a proposed regional enhancement millage for the Washtenaw County area, and the choices it leaves school districts facing. While the details may differ, these same dilemmas face every school district in Michigan.

We as a community will be faced with unpalatable choices as we try to close the $15 to $17 million budget gap that Ann Arbor’s schools will face over the next year, with more cuts to come in the coming years. But before we can make sound choices, we must have a real understanding of what our schools do and what resources that requires. And in order to do that, we must get past the caricatures which were painted during the millage campaign and instead speak to each other as real people with real concerns.

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Project Washtenaw
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Thu, 1 Oct 2009 — Steven Norton

House declines to pass K-12 budget with huge cuts

*Working against a midnight deadline, the State House could not muster enough votes to pass a School Aid budget that would have handed districts a $218 per pupil cut three months into their fiscal years.* The school aid bill, "HB 4447":http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2009-HB-4447, emerged from a joint House-Senate conference committee last week including $482 million in cuts to K-12 funding, mostly in the form of a $218 per pupil funding cut. Part of the rationale for the deeper than expected cuts was to save some $180 million in Federal stimulus money to avoid deeper cuts next year - an election year. bq. Tell your lawmakers what you think! "Check out our action alert on the school aid budget by clicking here":http://capwiz.com/miparentsforschools/issues/alert/?alertid=14099486.
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Thu, 10 Sep 2009 — Steven Norton

It's September 10th: do you know where your school's funding is?

*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.

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Tue, 30 Jun 2009 — Steven Norton

Proj. Washtenaw: impact of Senate cuts on WISD districts

The Senate Fiscal Agency has published estimates of the impact of cuts included in the Senate’s school aid budget bill, with detail for each district and public school academy (charter school) in the state. To get a copy of the full document, you can find it here.

As part of our Project Washtenaw effort, we’d like to highlight some of the potential consequences to districts in the Washtenaw ISD. The WISD includes districts with a wide range of characteristics, so the impact here can say a lot about what is happening state wide.

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Project Washtenaw
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Tue, 30 Jun 2009 — Steven Norton

Budget strugges continue; Senate cuts $413 million from K-12 schools next year

Rushing to get budget bills passed before adjourning for the July 4th recess, the state Senate on 24 June passed its version of the K-12 school aid budget bill. Senators made only minor changes to the amended bill reported from the Appropriations Committee and voted along party lines to approve a budget that includes some $413 million in cuts to schools, including a $110 per pupil cut to local school districts and the near-elimination of several early childhood and school-readiness programs. _More...._

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Sat, 20 Jun 2009 — Steven Norton

Action Alert: Senate Appropriations cuts schools $174 million and guts early childhood programs

*The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to cut state aid to schools by $110 per pupil next year, and also to completely eliminate several state programs to assist early childhood education and school readiness.* "Click here to see our action alert message, and contact your legislators!":http://capwiz.com/miparentsforschools/issues/alert/?alertid=13575281
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Wed, 1 Apr 2009 — Steven Norton

First look at the school aid budget, now with more stimulus!

*The House Appropriations subcommittee on School Aid held hearings on next year's school aid budget, and made preliminary decisions about how to use Federal stimulus money.* Final decisions for this year await further news on what's happening to revenue collections for school aid. As reported from the subcommittee, the bill uses Federal stimulus (ARRA) money to restore virtually all the cuts recommended in the Governor's original budget, which had been formed before the stimulus bills were passed.
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