2008 Senate Bill 1107 ↩

House Roll Call 496: Passed

The House version of the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 school aid budget. This would appropriate $13.415 billion, compared to $13.006 billion, which was the FY 2007-2008 amount appropriated in 2007, and $13.515 billion proposed by Gov. Granholm in February (<a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2008-SB-1149">Senate Bill 1149</a>). It would raise the minimum per-pupil foundation grant by $55 per pupil at higher-spending schools, and $110 at lower spending ones. The House version funds the Governor's proposals for more full-day kindergarten programs, for using some $$300 million in borrowed money for subsidies to certain lower income school districts to close replace some high schools with smaller high schools, for more spending on various preschool programs, and more. Significantly, the House would allow Detroit to retain the "district of the first class" status that under current law limits new charter schools in the city, despite the fact that the district will soon fall below the 100,000 student threshold that is the statutory basis for this status.