Gov. Granholm reveals plans to cut additional $127 per-pupil in education funding
By Greg Angel
Friday, October 23, 2009 at 5:24 p.m.
Read more: Local
JOHANNESBURG -- School leaders are facing a mounting challenge as Governor Jennifer Granholm reveals she is proposing an additional $127 per-pupil cut to education funding.
"What iss it going to be next, that's the question, I don't know," said Jim Hilgendorf, superintedent of Johannesburg-Lewiston Public Schools.
The $127 per-pupil cut would be in addition to a $165 per-pupil cut the governor approved earlier this week. Schools statewide now face roughly $292 per-pupil cuts to their budget.
For Hilgendorf's district, which is facing declining enrollment, that means a loss of nearly $230,000.
"This additional cutting would actually take our fund equity and leave us in a negative situation if it stays in place currently," Hilgendorf said.
The governor's office says the cuts are necessary to close a $212 million gap in school aid funding. But school leaders like Hilgendorf say they're already cutting beyond the bone and at their bare minimum.
"There are no superficial things to take off, we don't live in that world, it's going to be a matter of cutting things that are going to have an impact on students."
Cutting things that will now likely have to happen mid-year.
School leaders across the state have been petitioning lawmakers in Lansing to lessen the blow to education by dipping into a pot of $400 million in federal stimulus dollars the state Senate is working to carrying over to next year's budget. School leaders argue that funding is critically needed this year.
Governor Granholm says the additional $127 per-pupil funding cuts will be put into place unless the legislature can come up with supplemental funding within 30 days.
