Legislative

Budget Time

Since the beginning of October school funding in Michigan has been cut three times! Thanks to all of you who took the time to call or write their Legislators to express your outrage. Keep it up. The voices of parents are being heard on this issue through Michigan PTSA. The bad news is that although we were able to mitigate what could have been a huge per student cut, we still will be cut at least $295 per student, more in some districts. (Many efforts are being made as I write this to reduce the cut, but in the end, I predict, it will be substantial.) In addition, if the sales tax revenues continue to come in at the lower rate than the budget originally estimated, we could be faced with additional cuts later in the year. (There is no reason to believe that sales tax revenues will improve – they have come in at least $40 million under budget every month this year!)

How does this affect your district? Click here for the total amount of the first wave of cuts. Click here for a detailed analysis of the categories that were changed in the budget.

As to how it will affect your district directly – well, your boards of education will soon be making decisions that will reconcile the current cuts with the cuts that they projected. If they projected a $300 cut, they have more money to spend as it currently stands (remember, this could change, and probably will, as we move through the year). If they projected less than the current cut, they will have to make it up somehow.

Fifteen years ago (March 15, 1994 to be exact, my birthday, but I can’t say which), the citizens of Michigan made a radical decision to fund schools statewide through an increase in sales tax and other methods and reduced property taxes. This measure passed by a vote of 1,684,541 to 750,952 (69% to 31%, or slightly better than 2 to 1). Yes, the people had spoken, but what really did this mean? What it meant was that the state – and by that I mean the people of the state – with the elected officials working on their behalf, made a commitment to fund education. In the good years that immediately followed, to raise the money needed for schools was not an issue, money could be easily generated by big-ticket items in a good economy. But by the time we reached the early part of this decade, several factors worked against us, most notably the decline in auto sales.

However, the commitment remains.

We, the people, and our elected officials acting as our agents, must live up to that commitment to the children of this state! A $168 per student cut is outrageous! How can we possibly move forward with the people of this state failing to live up to their commitment? Keep asking this question. Keep your voices loud, and keep working on the relationships that you are developing with elected officials and let them know that this cut and further cuts are unacceptable.

But it’s only three percent!, some say. But what does three percent actually mean to you, your schools, and most importantly, your kids?

Schools are required to have kids in school 1,098 hours per school year. (With a 180-day school year, that’s about 6 hours and 6 minutes.) Let’s cut 3% of that. That’s 5 days of school, or a week of school. What kind of impact does that have on our students?

Special education did not escape budget cuts. The budget impasse prevented the state from dispersing federal funds to districts. Some very interesting information on how disproportional representation of racial and ethnic groups can be found here. In addition, the cuts made to public education by the Governor, according to some in the federal government, reduces the state’s commitment sufficiently that it calls into question the state’s commitment to education and the state’s eligibility for ARRA (stimulus) funds!

The lesson here, for me and other advocacy leaders, is that our work is nowhere near done. We need to get out there and make sure that our friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers are aware of what is happening, how it impacts them, and that they need to care about it!

So let’s get to work.

To help you advocate, I will be updating the Legislative Page (http://capwiz.com/npta2/mi/home/ ) on a regular basis-please go there and check out the action alerts under the Issues and Legislation tab.

Kevin McLogan
Vice President for Children’s Advocacy
kmclogan@wowway.com

Michigan PTA - 3300 Washtenaw Avenue, Suite 220 - Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
Email: director@michiganpta.org - Website: www.michiganpta.org - Phone: (734) 975-9500