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Funding
Differences Between Schools will be Down $1,000 After Nine
Years of Proposal A
Gongwer 9-11-02
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The gap between the richest and poorest school districts will
be cut by $1,000 by the 2003-04 fiscal year, a study by the
Senate Fiscal Agency says.
By that fiscal year, when the reforms of Proposal A of 1994
will have been in place for nine years, the gap between the
lowest spending school district in Michigan and the highest
will be $5,254 per pupil, exactly $1,000 less than the gap
when the Legislature enacted the Proposal A changes in 1993.
Reducing the gap between the state's richest and poorest
school districts was one of the goals of the Proposal A school
finance reforms.
In 1994-95, the first year that Proposal A dictated school
finances, the study found the gap between the richest and
poorest districts was $6,254. That year, the minimum per-pupil
funding allowance was $4,200, while the highest spending
districts spent $10,454 per pupil.
With the 2003-04 school year, the minimum per pupil allowance
will be $6,700, while the highest paid district will be
$11,954, the study says.
The reduction in the gap is due largely to the accelerated
increase to the districts getting the minimum per pupil
allowance by $2,500 over the period. The highest spending
districts have seen their allowance increase $1,500 during the
same period, or about a third as much as the rate of
inflation.
That has caused some higher spending districts to call for
changes that would allow them to raise revenues locally.
The question has worked itself into the gubernatorial
election. Lt. Governor Dick Posthumus has mounted an ongoing
attack on Attorney General Jennifer Granholm-the respective
Republican and Democratic candidates-that her comments that
Proposal A needs tweaking means she supports higher property
taxes; for some time, she has said that only means aiding
districts in getting low-interest loans and supporting
donations to school-based foundations for enhancement
programs. Democrats have charged that a letter written by Mr.
Posthumus to the Bloomfield Hills School District showed he
would back allowing local districts to increase property
taxes. But Mr. Posthumus and the school superintendent have
both denied that.
The analysis also said that because all of Michigan's 554
districts are at least at the minimum foundation allowance the
gap between the richest and poorest districts has been
permanently reduced. That will be reflected as all districts
are now to receive the same increases annually unless the
Legislature changes that formula.
The study also suggests that because of continuing budget
difficulties, "it is nearly assured that the appropriations
for FY 2003-04 (when the foundation allowance is to be held
steady at $6,700 per pupil) will be revisited."
The study was published late last month as part of the Fiscal
Agency state notes series.
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