School Districts Across The State May Have To Bailout Detroit Public Schools

School districts across the state could still have to foot the bill to get Detroit Public Schools out of debt, under the package of bills that passed the Michigan Senate Tuesday.

The measures provide an initial influx of money, but after that money to pay down the district’s debt will have to go through the appropriations process each year.

Under the current budget format, the governor lays out his budget wants and wishes and then each chamber of the legislature goes through – sometimes line-by-line – to make changes and shift funding around.

State Senator Bert Johnson, D-Highland Park, says relying on the appropriations process to guarantee funding is always worrisome but believes future lawmakers and future leaders at DPS won’t let funding go by the wayside.

The governor wants to pull money from the Tobacco Settlement Fund each year to help DPS.

However if future lawmakers divert from that funding source the money would likely come from the School Aid Fund, which would pull funding from other districts across the state and send it to DPS.