Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

September 17, 2009

Local state reps push for school equity

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE

TRAVERSE CITY -- Efforts to narrow the gap between Michigan's richest and poorest school districts could be gaining ground in Lansing with the creation of a bipartisan caucus intended to spark change.

Local state Reps. Dan Scripps, D-Leland, and Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, are among a handful of legislators behind a group that met for the first time this month.

Participating legislators span the entire state, including the Upper Peninsula, and most represent school districts that receive close to the base funding level of $7,316 per student.

Many of the region's public school systems, including Traverse City, are funded at or near the lowest level. Students in Oakland County's Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, in contrast, each bring in more than $12,000 from the state.

"We realized we needed a place where a number of us who believed in this could come together," Scripps said. "It's not just a northern Michigan problem."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm in recent years included a "2X" formula in the school budget, effectively doubling annual per-student funding increases for the lowest-funded districts.

The move was touted locally as a way to offset the outcome of Proposal A, which when passed in 1994 was intended to close the gap. Instead, some districts with higher funding levels can collect extra dollars through local millages and a provision in the State Aid Act.

The goal not only is to continue the momentum gained under the "2X" model, but also to ensure any school funding cuts needed as Michigan struggles to balance a budget are done equitably, Scripps said.

He and Rep. Tim Moore, R-Farwell, sponsored two bills that would require any cuts be made by the same percentage instead of the same dollar amount.

"This is promising," Traverse City Area Public Schools Superintendent James Feil said of the caucus. "Obviously, we need to have results."

Its founders will need to define equity before it can gain widespread support, said Rep. Chuck Moss, R-Birmingham, who represents the Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills districts.

A model in which all districts receive the same amount is an "emotional argument" that won't work because it's more expensive to live and work in some parts of the state, Moss said.

"The costs of doing business are going to be different in Bellaire than in Brighton," he said. "Let's figure out how to bring everybody up, not tear the top down."

Caucus members know they can't force anyone to participate, Schmidt said, but keeping the issue fresh means legislators are more likely to consider it.

"There will not be a snap of the fingers," Schmidt said. "It will not happen overnight."

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