By Staff
LANSING – Public schools in Michigan can start planning for the fall now that per-pupil funding levels have been established and the Senate has sent the conference report on the School Aid budget to the House for final approval, said Senate Appropriations Chair Ron Jelinek.
Senate Bill 1107 provides a funding increase of between $56-112 per-pupil depending on a school's current level. Schools with the lowest funding will get the $112.
"School districts are seeing a smaller-than anticipated increase this year, but it is an increase nonetheless," said Jelinek, R-Three Oaks.
"We understand the economic shortfalls they are facing and have done what we can to help them out. Additionally, we kept our promise to not bond against the future while still providing increased educational opportunities for students."
The bill also provides $15 million for grants to districts with less than 70-percent graduation rate to allow them to run smaller high schools designed to reduce the drop-out rate. Individual grants of up to $3 million would be available to districts as long as they matched the funding and graduated at least 80 percent of their students by the third year of the program and 80 percent of those students go on to postsecondary education. Other highlights of the School Aid budget include:
Revising the funding formula to entice schools to begin offering full-day kindergarten and developmental kindergarten over the next three years in order to be fully funded;
Changing the definition of a first class district for school aid purposes;
Allocating $500,000 for districts to operate adult education programs in prisons;
Allocates funding to school readiness programs which serve at-risk four-year olds; and
Provides an additional $5 million for early childhood programs.