In 2019 Michigan passed a law mandating a state school budget gains the governor’s signature by July 1st each year. This past July however, the deadline came and went without a budget in place.
We’ve chosen to keep our staffing the same. All those things, our goal is to keep education the same for our kids, but we’re certainly making choices such as if something doesn’t need to be purchased right now, we’re holding off on those things, right? Like we’re not adding new programming at the moment. We’re holding off to make sure that um we don’t overextend ourselves until we understand what our budget is going to be. – Lisa Johnson, superintendent Ontonagon area schools
Ontonagon area schools recently sent a letter to parents explaining the challenges the lack of a state budget puts on school districts. Houghton portage township schools superintendent Anders Hill adds the state provides close to 75 percent of his district’s funding.
School safety mental health free meals for all students. We know that these things make a difference for kids, and we see the positive impact that they have and knowing them would surely help us in our planning. We’re committed to doing all we can for kids but uh if those aren’t funded then school districts across the state are going to have to uh really pivot and make plans quickly – Anders Hill, superintendent, Houghton – Portage Township schools
Former state superintendent Micheal Rice expressed concerns the recently passed version of the budget by the house could harm school programs and services by pooling those funds together. Representative Markkanen shared leaders wanted to allow school districts more say in what programs receive funds. OAS Superintendent Lisa Johnson says the theory could work, but for smaller districts certain funds need to have special consideration, such as for transportation.
We’re a very rural school district. And so, we get extra transportation money because we’re so rural compared to other school districts. And in the end, what might be difficult is we may not get that extra money, which is going to impact us negatively. We’re okay with combining things and a lot of categoricals, but we do believe that there are some that may need to stay separate to create some equity amongst all of the school districts based upon geographic and size component pieces. – Lisa Johnson, superintendent Ontonagon area schools
WEMU reported Tuesday the Michigan senate hopes to add additional legislative sessions to the upcoming week to pass a budget on time. The state budget proposals started at about 10 billion dollars a part. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has also urged legislators to pass a budget before September 30th.
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