Craig Mauger,Beth LeBlancThe Detroit News
Lansing — Groups representing public school leaders spoke out Wednesday against a state budget being crafted by Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office, warning the spending plan would lead to layoffs across the state amid inflationary pressures eating into their annual operating budgets.
The Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators' "call to action" to its members warned the budget plan would not include a base per-pupil increase for schools but would instead lower, for one year, the rate schools pay into the employee retirement system. School leaders panned the plan, arguing it would make the already shaky finances of K-12 schools amid trends of declining enrollment even less stable.
"The proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year provides no long-term funding relief and will lead to layoffs this fall and in the future, as the funding for our schools will not be enough to keep up with inflation, rising health care costs and the ending of federal relief dollars," the statement from the superintendents association said. "We urge you to join us and tell the Legislature that we cannot support a budget that shortchanges our kids and our classrooms."
The association lobbies for K-12 superintendents and administrators in more than 600 public school districts and intermediate school districts across Michigan, according to its website.
In recent years, amid massive multibillion-dollar tax revenue surpluses, Whitmer and majority Democratic lawmakers have touted record increases in the per pupil foundation allowance, which sets baseline levels of funding for schools.
Last year, Whitmer signed a state budget that included a 5%, $458 per pupil increase in the state’s foundation allowance, setting it at $9,608 per student.
During this year's budget process, Whitmer originally proposed redirecting about $670 million that would normally go to cover liabilities in the state's teacher retirement system, contending past efforts to pay down debt by her administration had freed up the money.
Lawmakers have landed on a budget proposal that would temporarily drop the contribution rate schools pay into the retirement system by about 5.8 percentage points, down from 20.96%, according to the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators.
Whitmer spokesman Bobby Leddy said the budget plan would make the largest investment in schools in the state’s history. It would deliver funding for districts that outpaces inflation and gives schools the flexibility to use the funding to meet the needs of individual students, he said.
"It is shocking that a group of lobbyists who falsely claim to stand on the side of students and educators are now calling to defund K-12 schools in Michigan only a few days before the July 1 deadline," Leddy said. "We won’t let that happen."
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled Legislature had released no bill or summaries of what would be in their final spending plan, while lawmakers prepared to possibly vote on the plan in the middle of the night. The lack of disclosure about how the roughly $20 billion School Aid Fund would be divvied made it unclear how overall funding for schools would shift from the current year's level.
July 1, which is Monday, is the Legislature's self-imposed deadline for crafting a state budget each year. It's also when the fiscal year begins for most public schools in Michigan, allowing districts to make personnel decisions before the next school year begins in August or early September.
Peter Spadafore, executive director of the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, another group that lobbies for public schools, said because the retirement contribution rate reduction isn't enshrined in statute, the savings to school districts wouldn't be permanent.
“School districts cannot make long-term investments with these dollars, like we could with the foundation allowance or a permanent rate reduction,” Spadafore told The Detroit News.
House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, met with school groups and education stakeholders Tuesday to brief them on the budget, said Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Tate.
McCann said the state was able to redirect about $670 million that would have been spent on teacher retiree health care and put that money toward other areas of school funding.
“Between that and some other categoricals in the school aid fund, schools are definitely getting more money than what can be found in the per-pupil amount alone,” McCann said.
Tate's spokeswoman argued the education budget proposal represents a “more realistic budget year” after recent spending plans have been flush with one-time money from federal COVID aid and spikes in sales tax revenue that are no longer available.
Charter schools, alternative public schools that aren't universally part of the traditional teacher retirement system, are expected to get a 3.9% increase in per-pupil funding.
"It marks the first time charters have been funded at a higher level than traditional public schools," said the statement from the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators.
Dan Quisenberry, president of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, which advocates on behalf of charter schools, said in a statement that his group was waiting to see the final budget, but “what’s most important to us is that all students are funded equitably.”
Doug Pratt, a spokesman for the Michigan Education Association, a union that advocates on behalf of teachers and is influential among Democrats, didn't directly answer a question Wednesday about whether the MEA supports the looming budget plan.
"The MEA is committed to working with lawmakers to improve this budget and advocate for long-term solutions that put additional resources into our schools — and particularly into the compensation of the dedicated educators who help students learn every day," Pratt said.
However, Robert McCann, another school lobbyist and executive director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan, tweeted Wednesday afternoon that the budget plan "would directly lead to layoffs throughout Michigan schools."
"It's critical that lawmakers listen to the educators telling them to rethink this misguided plan," Robert McCann said.
The House and Senate were expected to vote on the legislation later in the day or early Thursday.
Democrats hold narrow majorities in both chambers and will need all of their members to support the measures for them to reach Whitmer's desk. If any Democrats vote in opposition, the majority leaders would need to get a similar number of votes from Republicans to pass the plan.
In addition, Democrats will likely need six Republicans in the state Senate to vote in favor of allowing the budget to take effect immediately. The state's next fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Without immediate effect, the budget wouldn't take effect until after the session year concludes. Traditionally, that would happen at the end of December.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
