Granholm signs K-12 budget with reservations, vetoes

Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday signed the K-12 school budget bill passed by the state legislature, but issued a statement while doing so indicating that she is unhappy with the deep cuts in per-pupil funding. She also used the line-item veto to strike out spending items worth $54 million and indicated that more cuts will be necessary unless the legislature passes new revenues:

“The school aid budget presented to me is inadequately funded,” Granholm said. “If this school aid bill were a check drawn on a bank, it would be returned for insufficient funds. To bring the budget into balance, I have vetoed $54 million in appropriations. But even these reductions will not fully resolve the shortfall.

“While my approval of this budget will allow public schools to keep operating and school districts to continue making scheduled bond payments, the legislature has much more work to do to complete a balanced funding plan for our schools.”

If State Treasurer Robert J. Kleine indicates later this week that reduced revenue will result in a further shortfall in the state school aid fund, state law requires a proration in payments to school districts beyond the $165 per pupil reduction already approved by the legislature.

The $54 million the governor vetoed was for about 40 school districts that have particularly high spending and have been operating under a different school funding formula than the rest of the state. Those districts include Livonia, Troy and Dearborn. Those districts will lose millions in funding in addition to the $165 per pupil cut that other schools will suffer.

With revenue almost certain to continue to call below earlier projections, the cuts in per-pupil spending for the next fiscal year may end up being twice as deep as those in the current budget bill.