One of the interesting things about doing local advocacy work is that it gives you a whole new perspective on how the public views school funding issues. It can also give you a detailed look at the fuzzy thinking of those who argue that our schools can’t, or shouldn’t, be given the resources to avoid major cuts to programs and personnel. As part of our “Project Washtenaw,” MIPFS volunteers have been engaging the communities in Washtenaw County about the crisis their public schools now face. One year, a failed county millage proposal, and a bundle of desperate budget cuts later, we’ve learned some important lessons about how school funding is often treated in the public discourse and how that might be changed for the better. We’d like to share them with you.

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The school funding situation is at a critical juncture. State officials have just finished their review of expected tax collections. They found that revenues earmarked for schools will come in even lower than expected in January — $153 million lower than the earlier estimates that were already revised downward. That means a total shortfall of as much as $560 million for this year and cuts to districts of $116 per pupil right at the end of the year unless new money is found.

We sent this letter to Chmn. Cushingberry, other members of the House Appropriations Committee, Reps. Ebli (Monroe) and Warren (Ann Arbor), and Sens. Brater and Richardville, on April 5th. A copy of the final letter in PDF form is attached to this posting.

Dear friends,

As you may know, last week the Senate passed a bill, along party lines, that would cut $34 per pupil from school districts’ allowances for this year. This and other cuts were part of an attempt by the Senate’s Republican majority to close the School Aid Fund deficit of $377 million without any new revenues.

While the $34 cut seems small, it is coming so late in the schools’ fiscal years that it has the potential to be very destructive — especially to districts which have little or no reserve.

Taxes. There, now I’ve said it. It’s a word no one wants to hear, especially now that Michigan’s economy seems to be sliding downhill. (And never in April.)

But wishing won’t make it go away. So here is the question:

Do we really have to pay more taxes to get decent schools? Don’t we pay enough already?

Well, it depends. What do you want your kids’ schools to look like ten years from now? What would you like our state’s economy to look like thirty years from now? That’s really the bottom line. To quote a colleague of mine, “You get what you pay for.”

Below is the letter one group of parents, from Ann Arbor, sent to Governor Granholm and to their local representatives, Senator Liz Brater and Representative Rebekah Warren, on 16 March. They invite other groups pf parents to borrow the letter and use it as a framework for their own letter to their elected representatives. Every letter and message to our legislators makes a difference!

Dear Governor Granholm, Senator Brater, and Representative Warren:

We are parents of children attending the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

For a fuller discussion of how the school funding system works, and how it came to look this way, check out this article posted on one local PTO’s online conference called Penguin Talk. The article reviews the politics behind Proposal A and what’s happened since then. It also has links to some very helpful documents.
http://burnsparkpto.org/confer/node/29

Public school officials have begun to speak out about the funding crisis which faces schools across the state. They not only decry the repeated resort to mid-year funding cuts, they also call for a reassessment of how public education is funded.

To understand the current debates about school funding, it really helps to know how the current system works, how it came about, and earlier attempts to fix it. In this document we’ll provide links for more information on how school funding currently works in Michigan, and proposals for change.

For those of you who’d like to contact your state Representatives and Senators directly, we’ve collected links to help you confirm who your local legislators are and how to contact them. We’ve also reprinted some committee membership information; the House and Senate Appropriations committees will be tackling any spending questions directly, with new taxes and any reconsideration of school funding being taken up by other committees as appropriate.