Community Corner

Who Should We Write if We would Like to Promote a School Millage ?

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Patch reader Tim asks: Who should we write if we would like to promote a school millage? The superintendent? I think good schools are an important part of a young talent retainer policy. Do you have any suggested direction?

To answer Tim's question we went to Royal Oak schools chief Shawn Lewis-Lakin. Here is what the superintendent said:

The vitality of our community and the strength of our schools are inextricably linked. This truth is one that I believe Mayor Ellison understands. Our city and schools have a strong working relationship and continue to explore new ways to work together for the good of the greater community.

Proposal A limited the ability of local citizens to support operating millage for their public schools. The hold-harmless and non-homestead millages of the school district are the only district millage that may be used for operations.  The renewal of these millages will be on the ballot in November; approval of the renewals will be critical for our schools (for more information, go to http://www.royaloakschools.com/portal/node/53256

Community members concerned about school funding should contact their state legislators and ask for the state to place a higher priority on K-12 education in the budget process or return more control to funding back to local communities. There are several advocacy groups working with parents and community members to send this message to Lansing.   These include Michigan Parents for Schools (http://mipfs.org/) and A Million Michigan Voices (http://www.millionmichiganvoices.com/Pages/Home.aspx).  

And, if people are interested in the State of the Schools address they can view it at  http://www.royaloakschools.com/portal/node/46568

After reading this response, Tim had a follow up question: If the taxes are set by the state then how is it that school districts like Birmingham have so much more money spent per student? Would you be able to explain how the math works before somewhat uninformed people like myself foot our foots in our mouths? Thanks again for looking into this!

Lewis-Lakin replied: 

One of the goals of proposal A was to reduce funding disparities among school districts.  To do this, Proposal A established a “foundation allowance”—a per pupil amount of operating funding— for each district in the state. This allowance was influenced by the amount of funding a district had received before Proposal A was passed.   Districts that had higher property values before Proposal A were assigned a higher foundation allowance.

In the first year of Proposal A, foundation allowances for K–12 schools ranged from $4,200 to $10,294 per student.   Since Proposal A was first implemented in 1994-1995, state budget decisions have adjusted the foundation allowance each district receives.  For the most part, districts at the lower end of the funding spectrum have received greater increases than those at the top, with the goal of decreasing the disparity.  This goal has partially been achieved.   For the 2013-2014 school year, foundation allowance for K-12 schools will range from just over $7,000 to $12,000.     

To answer Tim's question:  In the 2013-214 School Aid Budget approved by the state legislature,  the Foundation Allowance for Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills Schools are $11,804 and $11,884, respectively.    Royal Oak's foundation allowance is $8,638, which is more than the vast majority of schools in Michigan, but less than the neighbors about which Tim asked.  

  

Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The per pupil funding Royal Oak receives from the state - by law, the only funding that can be used for operating expenses - is $702 per student less for the 2013-2014 school year than it was five years ago.   What can local citizens do about this?   Advocate with our state legislators for K-12 education to be a higher priority in the state budget and/or work on initiatives that would change state laws and return some aspects of control over local school operating revenues back to local communities. 

The Citizen's Research Council on Michigan is an independent non-partisan organization that provides factual, unbiased independent information on signficant issues concerning state and local government finance and organization.  They have a report titled "Distribution of State Aid to Michigan Schools",  that offers a much more detailed answer to the question than can be provided in a quick e-mail.   I encourage people interested in this important topic to read this report, which is available at: http://crcmich.org/PUBLICAT/2010s/2011/rpt371.html


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