The 2017-18 session currently sees several bills introduced to Michigan’s House of Representatives that regard public schools. Some, however, see the number as minimal and symptomatic of a lack of interest in higher education.
Requiring tests for lead levels and contaminants in public school water
-House Bill HB 4120 (2017-18)
This bill would require testing levels of lead and other contaminants in water supplied to public schools.
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Adam Zemke (D-Ann Arbor) and requires at least once every three years a supplier of water to public schools to collect samples from drinking faucets at the schools they supply.
These samples would then be analyzed for “lead and all other contaminants” for state drinking water standards.
Results of the samples would be made available to the department and to the respective public schools.
Prohibiting operation of public schools on for-profit basis
-Senate Joint Resolution SJR D (2017-18)
On Feb. 1, Michigan’s Senate saw the introduction of Senate Joint Resolution D, which seeks to prohibit the operation of public school on for-profit basis in the state constitution.
A joint resolution proposed by Michigan Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), SJR D proposes an amendment to the state constitution by prohibiting public schools from being operated on a for-profit basis or by a for-profit entity.
The legislature seeks to maintain and support a system of free public elementary and secondary schools and charges every school district with the education “of its pupils without discrimination on religion, creed, race, color or national origin.”
It states no public school will operate on a for-profit basis by its governing body, which also will not contract with organizations or entities to provide comprehensive educational, administrative, management or instructional services or staff unless they are also operated on a nonprofit basis.
The resolution says no public funds or property can be appropriated, paid or given public credit that were by the legislature or any other political subdivision or agency of the state, directly or indirectly to aid or maintain any private, denominational or other nonpublic, pre-elementary, elementary or secondary school.
It goes on to state that no payment, credit, tax benefit, exemption or deductions, tuition voucher, subsidy, grant or loan of public monies or property can be provided, directly or indirectly, to support the attendance of a student or employee of any person at a nonpublic school or at any location or institution where instruction is offered in whole or in part to such nonpublic school students.
However, the legislature grants funds being used to transport students to and from any school.
The amendment will be on the ballot for voters to decide at the next general election.
Equal school funding per pupil in K-12
-Senate Joint Resolution SJR A (2017-18) and Senate Joint Resolution SJR B (2017-18)
-House Joint Resolution HJR D (2017-18) and House Joint Resolution HJR E (2017-18)
On Feb. 2, the Michigan House of Representatives introduced House Joint Resolutions D and E by state Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Potterville), following Senate Joint Resolutions A and B by state Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) to the Senate at the end of January.
Virtually identical, SJR A and HJR D seek to ensure an equal amount of per pupil funding during a 10-year period for all local school districts. In the same way, SJR B and HJR E seek to revise the permissible uses of these school aid funds.
The revised SJR A and HJR D again seek to ensure all children in Michigan K-12 schools receive the same funding from the state within 10 years. This time new language included in SJR B and HJR E maintains the creation of a school aid fund, provided with revenue from the 2 percent sales tax increase that was originally passed for this purpose.
Jones said both of these proposals are the result of Proposal A that was on the ballot in 2011, when a 2 percent sales tax increase was passed with the intent to correct the disparities affecting each child in K-12 education.
Yet the ballot proposal did not include the necessary language to secure this new tax revenue for K-12 funding, instead making a broader declaration of the funds for education.
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm discovered, Jones said, it was possible to take the revenue from the 2 percent tax raise, by first designating it for community colleges then taking it from their into general fund spending.
“That took money away from K-12,” Jones said.
HJR Proposal D would go back and fix the original promise of Proposal A to fix K-12 funding, Jones said.
“People were told that the additional two percent would go to fund K-12,” Jones said. “They were also told that eventually all schools would be equalized in per pupil funding. That has not happened.”
These two proposals would put this issue back on the Michigan ballot, giving the people a chance to vote for fixing what happened in 2011 by mistake, Jones said.
“I think this is important because a child in Lansing, a child in Detroit and a child in Marquette all should get the same state funding,” Jones said.
A lack of concern?
East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows said he isn’t familiar with any bills focused on higher education percolating in the 2017-18 session.
“I know that the governor had pitched the idea of grabbing some of the public education money for something he wanted to do,” Meadows said. “But the pushback was so strong from both sides of the aisle that he abandoned that attempt.”
Meadows said he believes there is some recognition by both parties that higher education and public education should receive more funding.
“I’m hopeful that there’s going to be more money available to colleges and universities, in particular since really I don’t know how much longer families and students can afford to pay the tuition bills that they’re being hit with now,” Meadows said.
Meadows cited the astronomical rise in tuition since the late 1960s.
“It’s really a burden that has fallen on families and students for too long a period of time,” Meadows said. “We need to fix this.”
Meadows described how politicians can become isolated from their local communities, really only engaging with the people they’re representing when they have to campaign every two years.
“I think what has happened is because the governor stripped local communities, especially local schools, of so much money at the start of his administration,” he said. “The effect of that has been seen in every school district. So when people on both sides of the aisle go out and they knock on somebody’s door, they often get some feedback on the lack of money in public education and I think that has affected both sides of the aisle in how they’re looking at this.”
Jones said he believes funding should be appropriated to universities as long as they are held accountable for maintaining affordable tuition.
“I think that any time we give funding to universities and colleges, we should demand that they hold down tuition costs,” Jones said. “We shouldn’t give them money without requirements.”
More funding
However, on Feb. 8, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced the new fiscal year 2018 state budget that looks to increase higher education spending.
Snyder recommended a 2.5 percent increase, or $36.6 million, which would raise university funding to $1.5 billion.
The budget also recommends increases in higher education funding for financial aid assistance like scholarship and grant programs, totaling $18 million.
A 10 percent, or $5.3 million, increase is included for the Tuition Incentive Program. The program supports about 18,500 students, aiding low-income Medicaid-eligible students with funding for an associate’s degree and up to $2,000 for baccalaureate work.
The Detroit Free Press reported under this proposal schools like Wayne State University and Lake Superior State University will net less than 2.5 percent, whereas schools such as Grand Valley State University and Oakland University will net more than 2.5 percent.
In a statement to the Free Press, Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson said they’re happy to see Snyder allocate funds for higher education. However, Wilson said the Carnegie Foundation’s formula used to determine a university’s performance is flawed, which measures public and Ivy League institutions against one another for the amount of research conducted.
“With this formula, Wayne State would actually receive more performance funding if it did less research, which would benefit neither the university nor the state,” Wilson said in the statement.
In a statement, Snyder said his administration has worked diligently each year to increase appropriations for higher education, and said this increase will restore higher education funding to previous levels.
“As a state, we need to continue to invest in higher education to develop the talent that will fill the jobs of Michigan’s future,” Snyder said in the statement.
