State leaders must set aside election-year politics and bring much-needed stability to our local schools. They can do so by passing a robust and comprehensive education budget before the June 30 statutory deadline, so schools can begin planning for the fall.
The alternative is needlessly bringing uncertainty to our schools at a time when they can least afford it.
Last week, I was pleased to be part of discussions that transcended party lines at the Detroit Chamber of Commerce’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference. There were great discussions between business, education, labor and civic leaders about addressing the challenges facing our state and finding areas of agreement wherever possible.
These solution-oriented conversations — focused on shared education goals like improving student literacy, modernizing curriculum standards and better preparing students for the careers of tomorrow — should happen more often at every level.
After all, regardless of our beliefs on individual issues, we should all want to improve our neighborhood schools, give Michigan students a better chance to compete for good jobs after graduation and secure a brighter economic future for our state.
To reach those goals, we need certainty and predictability in an education budget delivered on time, as opposed to last year’s spending plan, which arrived more than three months late.
In April, the state Senate passed a strong education budget that increases total preK-12 funding by $723 million next year, provides additional resources for lower-income students in mostly rural and urban areas and gradually phases in a weighted funding formula. That builds on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget recommendations that included major investments to improve student literacy.
State revenues show a path to making these critical investments, allowing for consensus to be reached between the Senate, House and the governor’s budget recommendations. There’s no reason state leaders can’t get this done by the end of the month.
That is what makes the House tax proposal so disappointing. It makes a massive cut to school revenue, eliminating more than $3.2 billion in school funding next year alone, with no identified replacement. That equates to more than $3,000 cut from every student in Michigan.
This is not a proposal that can succeed for Michigan, as it would cut significant funding to schools, police and fire. The House Fiscal Agency’s own analysis makes that clear. On top of increasing income taxes on individuals “by an unknown amount,” House Bill 5873 would set an unconstitutional mandate to spend, according to the House analysis.
All this political “proposal” does is slow the critical process of completing the state budget before the deadline. It does nothing to strengthen our hometowns, and it doesn’t attract new jobs and investment to Michigan.
Instead, families and educators need our elected leaders to work together to address the challenges facing our local schools.
That’s a path we need to get on, and quickly. As noted in a previous Labor Voices column, Michigan has slipped in national school funding rankings over the past quarter-century due to massive budget cuts during the 2000s and 2010s. In fact, Michigan spends less per pupil today in inflation-adjusted dollars than we did in 2002 — and that’s despite a student population that requires far more support and services these days.
Generations of Michigan students have already been harmed by the cumulative effect of school cuts, as evidenced by our simultaneous decline in numerous national achievement rankings. We can and must do better.
There is no excuse for ignoring yet another budget deadline this year. Instead, lawmakers should focus on coming together to give our students — no matter where they live — an education budget that invests in their success for the coming school year and beyond.
Erik Edoff is Senior Executive Director of the Michigan Education Association.
Labor Voices
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, Michigan Education Association President Chandra Madafferi, Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters Executive Secretary-Treasurer Tom Lutz and selected Service Employees International Union members.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan students can’t afford another missed state budget deadline | Labor Voices
Reporting by Erik Edoff / The Detroit News
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