March 30, 2004
Lansing– The State Board of Education is partnering with education financing experts to study and make recommendations on how the state can best meet critical funding needs to repair crumbling school buildings and invest in school infrastructure.
This effort, working with the Citizens Research Council and the Michigan State University Education Policy Center and Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, coincides with the 10-year anniversary of passage of Proposal A that redesigned the way public education is funded in Michigan.
“It is widely recognized that along with all of the positive things that Proposal A provided the residents of Michigan, one of the glaring deficiencies was that it failed to address school capital financing,” said State Board of Education Treasurer John C. Austin.
The State Board is authorizing former State Treasurer Doug Roberts, currently the Interim Director of Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) at Michigan State University, and David Olmstead, attorney and former Detroit School Board member to study and fashion a set of recommendations for the State Board to forward to the Governor and state Legislature regarding school capital financing.
“Although Proposal A helped close the gap in classroom funding between wealthy and poor school districts, we still see an alarming disparity in school facilities and technology,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Watkins. “Some of our schools are state-of-the-art and some are in a state-of-disgrace.”
State Board of Education President Kathleen N. Straus related that Michigan is one of only eight states that has no state tax, grant, or subsidy supporting construction funding and is expecting the report to offer the Board a set of recommendations to address the problem.
“The state Constitution entrusts with the State Board of Education the duty to advise the legislature as to the financial requirements of public education,” Straus said. “We see this as an urgent requirement of public education, while still recognizing the fiscal constraints facing the state and its taxpayers.”
The State Board of Education is asking that the set of recommendations be organized around
· what can be done to assist schools within existing parameters;
· what could be changed in the next four years to address the issue; and
· what are long-range issues that need to be addressed to create 21st Century learning environments for all of Michigan’s children.
“Enlisting the assistance of highly-respected school financing experts like Doug Roberts and David Olmstead will provide an objective and honest review of these issues with solid, non-partisan recommendations that the state legislature will trust,” Straus added.
Roberts called school capital financing “the unfinished business of Proposal A” and said that it is time now to write that chapter in the book of school financing.
“I believe that many of us who worked on Proposal A knew that this issue was not addressed. It is clear to me that the inequity in operational funding which Proposal A reduced, continues to exist in the funding of capital outlay. I am pleased to be part of this effort to try and resolve the unfair situation which currently exists." Roberts said.
The State Board expects the report with recommendations to be presented by the end of summer.
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