State Proposes New Funding Guarantee
Stephanie Rice

A new proposal will be on the ballot for the upcoming election. The proposed law is called the Educational Funding Guarantee.  This proposal is an initiative by the State Legislature to establish mandatory funding levels for Michigan schools.  
If the law is approved, it will do many things. First, the Educational Funding Guarantee will base funding for school districts with declining enrollment on a three-year student enrollment average.  The proposal will also reduce the gap in funding between school districts that receive basic per-pupil allowances and those which receive maximum allowances.  The proposal will reduce and cap the contributions paid by public schools, community colleges, and state universities to retirement funds.  The expected contributions will remain proportional to the contributions of the state.  
The proposed law will also require the state to fund any deficiencies from the General Fund, and it will increase current funding by approximately $565 million. It will require the state to provide annual funding increases equal to the rate of inflation, or 5 percent, whichever is less, for public schools, intermediate school districts, community colleges, and higher education, including state universities, financial aid programs and grant programs.  Inflation increases will be in the following four areas: foundation allowance, at-risk funding, special education, and the ISD foundation allowance.  
Students need to think about this bill before the polls open next month.  Lake State is state university; ergo this bill will affect everyone here in one fashion or another.  To learn more about this proposal, and everything else on the ballot this year, please visit www.michigan.gov or www.crcmich.org. 
