Legislative News from KISD Grassroots Initiative
Because of your enthusiastic efforts on behalf of children, Governor Granholm chose to visit Kent ISD today (Oct 23rd) to pursue her agenda of short and long term reform of school funding in Michigan. With her support of the 2x formula and her line-item veto of 20J funding for the richest schools in the state, she demonstrates clearly the influence of our efforts in Lansing. Now we just need to join her in putting pressure on our legislators. The Governor shared with some 30 school board members, superintendents, parents and teachers the dire circumstances in the school aid fund. There is, as we point out, a structural deficit that must be addressed. All of us want a long-term solution.
The governor urged us to join her in a two-front assault on Lansing to achieve our goals. First and foremost must be an immediate effort to achieve a short-term solution to the $212 million budget shortfall that forced the governor to issue a proration letter that would increase per pupil cuts for this year - a school year in which we have already been in operation for nearly four months - to $292 per pupil. Her proration, because of the unbalanced school aid budget sent to her by the Legislature, would add another $127 per pupil on top of the $165 per pupil reduction.
She called upon us to contact our Senators and tell them of the cuts we would have to make mid-year to balance our budgets. In addition, she asked us to encourage Senators to:
~ Freeze the scheduled cost-of-living increase in the individual income tax deduction and dedicate those dollars to education, which would contribute another $55 million to the school aid fund;
~ Shave just 15 percent off of the special interest tax breaks that have been instituted over the years, such as the tax breaks created for the oil and gas industry when oil was $18 a barrel, which now represent a windfall for producers enjoying prices of $78 per barrel and more in recent years; and
~ Support other revenue producing recommendations the Governor made to the Legislature, such as increasing the number of liquor licenses available in communities or charging a premium for extended-hour licenses.
None of these recommendations represent a general tax increase. All are necessary to roll back the reductions that, if adopted, would cost Kent County alone $30 million in school aid fund revenues. That amounts to the salaries for 600 first-year teachers!
Our Senators have opposed these common-sense revenue increases. Let them know they must support our children if we are to build a better future in Michigan. Contact your House member and ask for his/her support; if they voted for these types of reforms earlier, say thanks. And contact the governor, thank her for presenting these proposals to the Legislature, and tell her she MUST achieve a long-term solution to these problems before she leaves office in 14 months. Links to email addresses are below:
For the House of Representatives: http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp
For Senators: http://senate.michigan.gov/FindYourSenator/michiganfys.asp?lookup=
For the Governor: http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995---,00.html