Board Member Speaks Out on Education Funding Crisis
GRPS board member Lisa Hinkel wrote this incisive op-ed for the Grand Rapids Press March 31, 2007. Ms. Hinkel has graciously offered it for posting. Please read on for a local perspective on the funding crisis our children face.
Lawmakers helping us win race to bottom
Saturday, March 31, 2007
By Lisa Hinkel
Special To The Press
Our Lansing senators seriously let down the citizens of Michigan recently by stating that any revenue increase would be off the table for the current fiscal year. Instead, they suggested the further gutting of necessary services to solve the state's financial problems.
Their refusal to address the structural deficit in our state budget and the social consequences of not investing in our citizens will put us even further behind in our pursuit of economic and educational success. Non-partisan and bipartisan groups agree that what our state needs now is a combination of spending reforms and revenue increases to achieve economic prosperity and long-term relief from the budget problems we face.
I heard Tom Clay of the Citizen's Research Council speak on this subject over a year ago. The gist of his presentation was that we can't cut our way back to prosperity. Lou Glazer, president of Michigan First, Inc. wrote a guest column in The Press about the need to focus on a talented and skilled workforce, rather than continuing our obsession with lower taxes ("More talent not lower taxes will boost economy," March 3).
The governor assembled a bipartisan group to study Michigan's financial crisis. They also came to the same basic conclusions; we must reform both spending and our tax structure, and stop the disinvestments in critical services, such as education, health care and vibrant cities.
The public sector always hears from businesspeople when times gets tough, businesses make necessary cuts and government must do the same. The Grand Rapids School District has cut almost $60 million from its budget since 1999. The City of Grand Rapids has made cumulative cuts of $78.6 million over the last six fiscal years to address reductions in revenue sharing, decreased income tax revenue and increased costs of production. According to a February financial report prepared for the governor, since the first decline in state revenues in 2000-01, Michigan has faced projected shortfalls totaling nearly $10 billion and avoided them by using up its reserves, tapping one-time resources, and cutting more than $3 billion in spending At what point do we realize that these entities can no longer deliver basic services without some form of revenue increase?
I agree that we can find further spending reforms in our state. We should start with the state mandated retirement system. If school employees are expected to sacrifice, then Legislators must lead by example and make a change for all state employees, including themselves. GRPS spent over $20 million in retirement costs last year, yet we have no control over this expense. It is mandated by the state constitution, and requires legislation to be modified.
With the current term limits in our state, it is outrageous that legislators work only a few years to receive benefits that most people in the private sector do not. Changing the retirement system for all state employees will not fix everything, but it is a start.
Another approximately $53 million that could be eliminated from the School Aid Fund is the elimination of Section 20j payments that the 51 highest funded school districts in the state receive.
Michigan has a small group of districts that are already at the top of the funding formula, yet receive an extra allotment per student. Many of these districts are in areas where wealth and property values are way above average. With each school district's per pupil funding being decided in Lansing instead of at the local level after Proposal A, it is past time that we rectify this injustice. The Senate's plan includes cutting $34 per student across the board with less than three months left in the fiscal year (approximately $700,000 for GRPS), yet allowing the 20j payments to continue. This action is unconscionable.
We can look across the country and find that low taxes do not result in economic success. Minnesota pays higher local and state taxes than the national average, yet it's among the states with the highest per capita income and greatest economic growth since 1993. Of the six states with the lowest state and local tax burdens, not one ranks at or above the national average in per capita income. If cutting taxes were the silver bullet, Michigan would be near the top economically, rather than racing toward the bottom.
Some senators obviously did not agree with the governor's plan. I challenge them to come up with a plan that is not based on conservative rhetoric and long-held strategies that have not worked. We need courageous and necessary options based on research, best practices and most of all, fairness. The citizens of this state deserve nothing less.