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Posted on Thu, Sep 30, 2010 : 3:54 p.m.

Local districts get back $154 per-pupil in budget passed by Michigan Legislature

By Kyle Feldscher

The budget passed by the Michigan Legislature Wednesday night will restore $154 in per-pupil funding the state took from schools last year, bringing further financial relief to local districts.

The funds come from federal stimulus dollars and are a one-time payment into the state’s School Aid Fund. The legislation passed last night restored $154 per pupil, which along with the $11 already restored gives schools back the $165 taken from schools during the 2009-10 school year.

In Ann Arbor, the legislation amounts to about $2.7 million in additional income, Superintendent Dr. Todd Roberts said. However, Ann Arbor Public Schools is one of about 40 districts in the state that had lost $233 per pupil last year.

“It’s certainly a good thing,” Roberts said. “However, this is a one-time installment of federal money that the state is using to balance the budget. They took the surplus from the School Aid Fund, so it’ll be interesting to see how they decide to tackle this next year when the federal money isn’t available.”

The revised bill is meant to reinvest Michigan’s $316 million share of the $10 billion federal “EduJobs” bill meant to rehire and maintain public school employees.

The bill passed the Michigan House by a vote of 104-1 and passed the Senate by a vote of 29-9. Each local school district will receive an additional $23-$46 per student based on the state’s 2X equity formula. The legislation has yet to be signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The bill also included $4.5 million for intermediate school districts.

David Houle, chief financial officer for Ypsilanti Public Schools, said the legislation will result in about $570,000 of additional revenue for the district.

The funds will go to helping the district reduce its deficit, which stands at about $5 million. Houle said the district was just able to balance its budget this year, despite planning to contribute $416,000 to its deficit-reduction plan.

“This is good news because this will help keep us on track with the plan,” Houle said. “This is very good news.”

Saline Area Schools will be receiving an increase of $875,000 in revenue due to the legislation, said Tom Wall, the district’s assistant superintendent of administrative services.

Wall said the district will only see a $400,000 net gain because a clause in the same legislation increases the rates school districts pay for retirements by 1.25 percent in October, which will cost the district $475,000.

The money the district will gain will be used to help reduce the district’s deficit. Wall said Saline Area Schools passed its budget with a $443,978 deficit in June.

“It’ll be a nice move forward, but it just pushes off another year of fixing school funding,” Wall said.

The officials said many more steps need to be taken to address Michigan’s school funding issues.

“Efficiency is a great thing, but when you’re dealing with a public function like education and you shift focus toward constantly achieving efficiencies, quality ends up suffering,” Houle said.

Wall said the bump in funds would help districts this year, but could cause complications as retirement rates increase and this funding goes away.

“The funding system in the state is broke in a recession-type economy,” Wall said of the Legislature’s vote. “We’re moving money left and right, but we’re not solving the base problem of finding a stable funding source.” Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.

Comments

Mark Quigley

Sun, Oct 3, 2010 : 9:18 a.m.

Will the BOE and the management team at Ballas have the courage to return the Pay For Participation Fees collected this Fall from all the athletes in the three comprehensive high schools? The restoration of state funds should have a postive impact to the current budget. How are these PFP dollars being used by each school? Do these funds offset currrent program expenses or are they assigned to the General Fund? Is there a record of these dollars collected and spent? Will the BOE be intoxicated by these state funds and hire additional FTE at the request of the unions? Let's hope not.

GoblueBeatOSU

Thu, Sep 30, 2010 : 5:47 p.m.

If the Democrats want my vote they need to restore the Promise Grants. The people in Lansing don't have a clue as to what the word Promise means. The real issue with this story is that this is only a one time payment. The schools are going to have more funding problems in the future. It is good news that the schools received this extra funding, even if it is only for one year.

Mikey2u

Thu, Sep 30, 2010 : 5:20 p.m.

Another reason to vote for Democrats in November.