Students, parents march on Capitol to demand restoration of K-12 funding

A young girl kneels in front of the Capitol Monday evening to listen to speeches during a rally to restore K-12 funding. (Photo by Todd A. Heywood/Michigan Messenger)

LANSING — Hundreds of concerned parents and students from the greater Lansing area schools marched on the state Capitol Monday night to demand the restoration of K-12 funding eliminated in the state’s recently finalized budget.

Lead by Christian Vanderbush, an East Lansing High School sophomore, a crowd of 250 students and parents from East Lansing, Waverly, Grand Ledge and the Lansing public schools rallied at the Capitol, calling out “Find another way.” Vanderbush and about 50 students marched to the Capitol from East Lansing High School, located nearly two miles east of the Capitol.

“We shouldn’t have to march out here to tell lawmakers what’s right and what’s wrong,” Vanderbush said.

Once at the capitol the protestors were met by Mid-Michigan lawmakers Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing), Rep. Joan Bauer (D-Lansing) and Rep. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge).

Bauer, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said Michigan has no choice but to fund education in order to compete with places like China and India which are “dumping resources into education.”

“We should have no choice but to put education first,” Bauer told the crowd, noting target revenue increases were necessary to plug the current budget holes. She told the crowd one such revenue fix would be the elimination of two tax exemptions for oil companies.

Jones said he agreed with the students that the funding could be restored without raising revenues, and said cutting government waste was the key. He cited the example of the new Michigan State Police Headquarters in downtown Lansing as one example of waste, telling the crowd when everything was said and done the building would cost taxpayers $72 million.

He also said that the state could save upwards of $30 million a year by releasing prisoners who are dying.

“These people are no longer a risk to society,” he said. In an earlier interview with Michigan Messenger, Jones said that releasing the prisoners who are dying to a hospice for end-of-life care would save the state money because those prisoners would then qualify for Medicare and other insurance programs, shifting the funding burden off the state.

Bauer told Michigan Messenger that Monday’s rally will have an impact on lawmakers.

“This is what needs to be happening statewide,” she said. “The governor is taking her show on the road this next couple of weeks to try to rally people like this so that everybody realizes the importance of education.”

East Lansing School Superintendent David Chapin said the district is particularly hard hit by the cuts. The school’s website said the total hit to the school’s budget is $2 million.

“Everything is on the table,” Chapin said. “Transportation, sports, staff layoffs. Everything.”

Asked if school funding in Michigan needed to face serious restructuring, Chapin said that there it was a two-prong issue. He said that state funding processes needed to be addressed, but also every district had internal issues that needed to be addressed. Those discussions, he said, have begun in earnest in his district, as well as across the state.

“Change is imminent,” he said.