Or, How To Get Blood from A Turnip

The saga of state funding for schools aside (see this article), the AAPS is currently trying to find a way to close a $5 million budget deficit for next year. Things may be worse than that, if school funding isn’t sorted out at the state level, or if many children leave the district in the wake of the Pfizer closing and troubles at Ford. (Schools receive funds on a per-pupil basis, and each student that leaves takes approximately $9600 with them.)

Proposal 5, on the ballot this Election Day, is an initiative designed to protect and increase funding for public schools, colleges and universities in Michigan. It is probably the most viable attempt so far to change the school funding system put in place by Proposal A in 1994, and it has gained considerable momentum.

Key features of Proposal 5:

1. Guarantee increases in funding to state schools, colleges and universities that at least keep up with inflation (beginning in fiscal 2007).
2. Allow school districts with declining student populations to use a trailing three-year average for their total student count (state funding is calculated on a per pupil basis).
3. Reduces the gap between lower and higher-spending districts (by shrinking the difference between the “basic” per-pupil funding amount and the “maximum” amount to $1000 from $1300) by fiscal 2011.
4. Caps pension contributions from school systems, with the remainder covered by the state.
5. Requires the legislature to use available funds, including the state General Fund if necessary, for these purposes.
6. Changes would require a three-fourths vote in the state legislature (just as Proposal A does).

For more information on how school funding is currently structured in Michigan, you may find this article useful.