2003 House Bill 4401 ↩

Senate Roll Call 395: Passed

The House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2003-2004 K-12 school aid budget, with $12.59 billion in gross spending. (Note: Gov. Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2003-HB-4419">House Bill 4419 </a>.) The amount expected to be spent in the 2002-2003 school year is $12.545 billion. Of this, $260.1 million will come from the General Fund (funded by actual state tax revenues). The budget increases the minimum per-pupil foundation grant to $6,700, an amount which had been reduced in the 2002-2003 school year due to revenue shortfalls. It places $22 million into a new “School Aid Stabilization Fund” ("school rainy day fund") proposed by the governor after the 2003 Bush tax cut granted more money to the states. (Note: By placing this money into a new fund instead of the regular Budget Stabilization Fund [BSF], resumption of previously enacted Single Business Tax [SBT] cuts may be delayed, since the cuts are postponed whenever the BSF balance is under $250 million, which it is now.) The governor’s proposed cut to adult education is included; the program will get $20 million compared to $77.5 million in the previous year’s budget. Funding for a contract with Standard & Poor's to analyze and publish school performance data continues at a lesser amount than the previous year. A $15 million additional subsidy given to the Detroit School District in previous years is not included, and a $22 million work-based learning program was reduced to $1 million. The compromise budget also adds $39.3 million to buy laptop computers for public school sixth-graders. Finally, it includes elements of House Bill 4227, which would revise the manner in which pro-rated cuts are made to school districts in the event of a revenue shortfall. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at <a href="http://www.mackinac.org/4964">Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge</a> at www.mackinac.org/4964.