2008 Senate Bill 1107 ↩

Senate Roll Call 517: Passed

The House-Senate conference report for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 school aid budget. This would appropriate $13.378 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 $56 per pupil at higher-spending schools, and $112 at lower spending ones. The conference goes along with the House in allowing 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. It funds a scaled-down version of the governor’s proposal to provide subsidies to certain lower income school districts to replace some high schools with smaller high school ($16 million annually for four years but with no new debt); establishes as the intent of the legislature that beginning in 2011 schools must provide 70 percent of the regular school hours in their kindergartens; and adds an additional $10 million for various preschool programs. For budget details see House Fiscal Agency <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2007-2008/billanalysis/House/pdf/2007-HLA-1107-8.pdf">analysis</a>.