|
 Posthumus:
Proposal A is OK
MIRS, December 4, 2003
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
In response to
rising criticism in the education community, former Lt. Gov.
Dick POSTHUMUS said today that he doesn't believe the promise of
Proposal A is being broken if the governor and the Legislature
end up cutting the $6,700-per-student foundation grant.
Posthumus, an architect of the historic document, said the
promise of Proposal A was that schools were going to receive a
basic foundation grant and property taxpayers were going to see
some relief. The promise was not to give public schools funding
increases into perpetuity, he said.
"The promise didn't including saying that if we had a horrible
budget crisis, schools weren't going to be asked to take a
portion of that responsibility," Posthumus said.
The former Senate Majority Leader said the K-12 system is making
out better today than it did during the budget crunches of
1982-83 and 1991, when cuts were a lot more severe.
"They've come through much better than the budget recessions
pre-Proposal A," he said.
During the last two budget cycles, K-12 funding more than any
other item in state government, has survived the least scathed
from budget cuts, a fact Tom WHITE, executive director of Public
Education Advocates (PEA), isn't debating. Yet, he's hearing the
cry of "restore the promise" from his members.
With Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM and Republican leaders floating a
$200 cut to the $6,700-per-student foundation grant, White said
the souring economy is proving that there are holes in Proposal
A. Years of continuous tax cuts are crippling the ability of
Proposal A to pump out the money schools would have been
receiving under the 1993 model.
A PEA-commissioned research study shows that the annual impact
of all of the post-Proposal A tax cuts is $550 million a year on
the School Aid Fund (SAF), alone. The SAF is the sole pot of
money from which public schools receive their state money.
Current estimates for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget have the
SAF hole at $350 million.
Without the tax cuts over the last 10 years, PEA's numbers show
schools would not only be held harmless through this budget
cycle, but would be given a funding increase.
"Yes, in a lot of ways, Proposal A has done us very well. The
Legislature has done us very well," White said. "That's all well
and good, but it's no longer true. You don't want to sound like
you're whining and complaining, but we can see that there's a
problem here and this year is nothing compared to next year."
The budget projections for Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 don't look
good, which means schools that were able to "limp along" during
the FY 2004 budget cuts will be forced to lay off staff,
reducing supplies and cutting back on educational programs under
any cuts to the K-12 there.
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
Bill Would Reduce Payments to Wealthy School Districts
MIRS, December 4, 2003
Today, Rep. Howard WALKER (R-Traverse City) introduced a bill
that would eliminate state 20 J supplemental payments that
stabilize the reduction of local millages for the state's
wealthiest school districts.
The measure is based on the concept of one of the cuts from the
House budget-balancing plan which was announced Wednesday by
House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Judy EMMONS
(R-Sheridan) as an alternative to Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM's
proposal to freeze the scheduled income tax rollback.
It's estimated that freezing the rollback at its current 4.0
percent level would result in an additional $115 million in
revenues the state could use toward curing its $920 million
budget deficit. However, on Wednesday, Emmons outlined a plan
that slices more than $115 million from state spending through a
variety of cuts.
The Walker bill would cut the $55 million in payments that
compensate richer school districts for the original 1994
provision of Proposal A which limited the amount of taxes school
districts could assess locally under a formula that allowed
larger increases for poorer districts.
In 1999, when the state was operating under budget surpluses,
the Legislature tweaked Proposal A by creating the 20 J payments
for the wealthier districts. Essentially, Walker's bill would
eliminate the payments and return to the original intent of
Proposal A.
"I began looking into the funding last spring when the
Legislature was balancing the budget and education cuts were
being considered," Walker said. "At the time we were able to
fill the holes without going to Section 20 J funding, but this
time we may not be so fortunate."
According to estimates, if the 20 J supplemental payments were
eliminated, Granholm's pro-rata cuts to the education foundation
grant, which would be about $196 per student, could be reduced
by about $40.
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
|
