Legislature Votes on K-12 Budget, Votes on University and Community College Budgets Expected Tomorrow
With the state’s fiscal year ending September 30, we expect the flurry of legislative activity to continue as the Legislature finalizes budgets to send to Governor Whitmer. Once the bills reach her desk, Governor Whitmer has the option to sign the budgets as written, sign the budgets but issue line-item vetoes over specific expenditures, or veto the bills outright.
Both the House and Senate approved the K-12 School Aid budget, which is expected to be formally sent to the governor in the coming days. Both the House and Senate are yet to vote on the Universities and Community Colleges budgets, though we anticipate votes to be held Tuesday. We urge members to contact their legislators to ask for increased university and community college funding. Details on all three budgets are below.
K-12 Budget
Last week, HB 4242, which appropriates money for K-12 public schools, passed the Legislature. The bill was amended at the last minute on Thursday morning after Senate and House Democrats showed great negotiating strength to increase funding for special education and removed language which would have diverted funds for at-risk students based on standardized test scores. Additionally, language requiring partnership school districts to close or reconstitute a school was changed to optional.
The total K-12 School Aid budget is $13.2 billion, an increase of $343 million, or 2.7 percent. The current rate of inflation according to the US Bureau of Labor statistics is 2.9 percent. Districts will see an increase of $120 to $240 per pupil, distributed via the 2x formula with the lowest funded districts receiving the highest increases. Special education funding was increased by $60.2 million for local school districts and intermediate school districts to increase reimbursements by 2 percent. The bill passed with some House Democrats and all Senate Democrats opposing the bill for still falling far short of Governor Whitmer’s proposed spending on K-12 education.
Click here to look up how the proposed budget will impact your school district.
Community Colleges
The Legislature is expected to vote Tuesday on SB 134, which provides an increase of 1 percent to community colleges, bringing the total budget to $408 million. In 2001, the state spent $320 million on community colleges, adjusted for inflation, that amount would be $462 million today.
The 1 percent increase is distributed according to a performance funding model, with individual community colleges will see increases ranging from .5 percent to 4.8 percent. The 1 percent increase is distributed through a performance funding formula similar to the one used last year, but with an addition 5 percent weight to the 6 community colleges with the lowest taxable property values, and by reducing the weight for number of contact hours from 30 percent to 25 percent. Under the current formula, budget increases for colleges where AFT Michigan represents members include:
- Henry Ford: .5 percent
- Kalamazoo Valley: .8 percent
- Kirtland: 2.1 percent
- Lansing: .9 percent
- Macomb: .6 percent
- Wayne County: .7 percent
The budget was approved by the conference committee with only support from Republican legislators.
For details on the community colleges budget as agreed to by the Conference Committee, including a breakdown of the increases and total funding for each college, click here.
Universities
The Legislature is also expected to vote Tuesday on HB 4236, which provides a 1 percent increase of $15 million in university funding, for a total of $1.55 billion. In 2001, the state spent $1.95 billion on Michigan’s public universities, but adjusted for inflation, that amount would be $2.75 billion today.
The 1 percent increase is distributed through the same performance funding formula used last year, but does include “legislative intent” language requiring committees to seek input on changes to the formulas used in future budgets. Under the current formula, budget increases for institutions include:
- Central: 2.1 percent
- Eastern: .7 percent
- Ferris: 2.0 percent
- Michigan State: .9 percent
- UM Ann Arbor: .6 percent
- UM Dearborn: 1.0 percent
- UM Flint: 1.3 percent
- Wayne State: .5 percent
- Western: 1.0 percent
The budget was approved by the conference committee with only support from Republican legislators.
For details on the universities budget as agreed to by the Conference Committee, including a breakdown of the increases and total funding for each university, click here.
