New GOP proposal on school cuts

With a Nov. 21 deadline looming for the legislature to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to K-12 school funding, one Republican Senator has come up with an idea for how to raise the revenue to do so: Make the teachers pay for it. Peter Luke reports at MLive.com:

Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester, said there is no support in his caucus for raising taxes beyond the measures approved last month that freeze income tax credits but are tied to business tax cuts. He also opposes last week’s House move to give more money to schools by simply tapping federal economic stimulus funds being reserved for next school year.

Sen. Alan Sanborn, R-Richmond, told Macomb County parents Tuesday that he’s reintroducing a measure that would require all public employees in Michigan, including school personnel, to pay 15 percent of their health insurance. He said the school aid fund alone would realize $350 million in savings.

“If you guys back me up on this, we can get it done,” Sanborn told them. “This is a structural solution without raising taxes.”

Except that it is, in fact, a tax. It’s a tax on teachers, making them bear the full burden of restoring those budget cuts so the legislature doesn’t have to spread that burden among the rest of the state’s citizens. Here’s the only other solution being offered by the GOP:

Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop, R-Rochester, said there is no support in his caucus for raising taxes beyond the measures approved last month that freeze income tax credits but are tied to business tax cuts.

That bill, which the House has balked at, would freeze the income tax credits for the state’s poorest residents and push up their tax burden while reducing the tax burden on businesses and the wealthy. So those appear to be the only two choices the Republicans are willing to offer – let the poor pay for education or let the teachers pay for education.