A state representative from the Flint area told the Davison School Board last week that the funding mechanism for Michigan’s public schools is “broke.”

According to the Flint Journal, Rep. Richard Hammel, a Mt. Morris Democrat, said:

“The School Aid Fund is broke, there is no money.”

Hammel is vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee and vice-chair of the School Aid Fund Commission, which adds significant weight to his declaration.

The School Aid Fund is a pooling of state revenues from such places as cigarette taxes, property taxes and the lottery. That money is then doled out to the state’s public schools based on the number of students attending the school. The per pupil allowance was reduced this year as part of a difficult and contentious budget process that saw $1.3 billion in cuts, but no additional revenue streams. Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently postponed a mid-year adjustment to monies for schools based on a projection that state coffers will have more money than expected.