The proposed state budget “will lead to layoffs”
Lansing — An organization that represents the interests of Michigan public school leaders has come out against the state’s budget proposal, which is currently being drafted by Democratic lawmakers and could be passed later Wednesday.
A “call to action” posted Tuesday on the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators website said the budget would not increase base benefits for schools but would instead reduce the contribution schools pay into their employees’ pension system for one year.
“The proposed budget for the coming fiscal year does not provide long-term financial relief and will result in layoffs this fall and in the future because our schools will not have enough funding to keep up with inflation, rising health care costs and the expiration of federal aid funds,” the school superintendents association said in a statement. “We urge you to join us in telling Parliament that we cannot support a budget that disadvantages our children and our classrooms.”
The association lobbies school superintendents and administrators in grades K-12 in more than 600 public school districts and middle school districts across Michigan, according to its website.
In previous budget plans, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic lawmakers had touted a record increase in the base appropriation, which sets the basic funding for schools.
Last year, Whitmer signed a state budget that increased the state’s basic allowance by five percent, or $458 per student, bringing it to $9,608 per student.
During this year’s budget process, Whitmer had originally proposed redirecting about $670 million that would normally be used to cover liabilities in the state’s teachers’ pension system, claiming that her administration’s previous efforts to pay down debt had freed up the money.
According to the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators, lawmakers have agreed on a budget proposal that would temporarily reduce the contribution rate schools pay to pension insurance by about 5.8 percentage points, from 20.96%.
But Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, another public school lobbying group, said the savings for school districts would not be permanent because the fee reduction is not enshrined in law.
“School districts cannot use these funds to make long-term investments like we could with the base grant or a permanent fee reduction,” Spadafore told The Detroit News.
House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) met with school groups and education officials on Tuesday to brief them on the budget, said Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for the speaker. She said the state was able to redirect about $670 million that would have been spent on health insurance for retired teachers and put that money into other areas of school funding.
“This, and some other items in the school aid fund, definitely give schools more money than is covered by the per-pupil amount alone,” McCann said.
McCann noted that the education budget represents a “more realistic fiscal year” after recent spending plans were dominated by one-off funds that are now no longer available.
The exact details of the budget were not yet available until 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning. It was therefore unclear how the overall funding of schools would change compared to the current year.
For charter schools, which are not all affiliated with the traditional teacher pension system, a 3.9 percent increase in per-pupil funding is expected.
“This is the first time that charter schools have been more heavily funded than traditional public schools,” the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators said in a statement.
Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, which advocates for charter schools, said in a statement that his group is waiting for the final budget, but “the most important thing for us is that all students are funded fairly.”
Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the Michigan Education Association, a union that advocates for teachers’ interests and is influential with Democrats, did not directly answer a question Wednesday about whether the MEA supports the upcoming budget.
“The MEA is committed to working with lawmakers to improve this budget and advocate for long-term solutions that put additional funding into our schools – and especially into compensating the dedicated educators who help students learn every day,” Pratt said.
The House of Representatives and Senate are expected to vote on the bill later Wednesday.
The Democrats have narrow majorities in both chambers and must pass the measures with the approval of almost all of their representatives in order for them to land on Whitmer’s desk.
In addition, Democrats will likely need six Republicans in the Senate to vote to make the budget go into effect immediately. The state’s next fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Without immediate effect, the budget would only come into force after the end of the session year. Traditionally, this would happen at the end of December.
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