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K-12 State Funding Boost May Not Be Sustainable, According To Report

Michigan schools could be left with a significant drop in state funding after next year.

That’s according to a new report from the non-partisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

We have more from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher.

The report predicts a hole in the state School Aid Budget of about 240 million dollars.

Governor Rick Snyder signed a state budget last month that boosts funding to schools by about three percent.

But Bob Schneider of the Citizens Research Council says that could be wiped out by higher teacher retirement costs and a commitment to spend more on early childhood education.

“If the Great Start Readiness Program increase gets implemented, they’d really end up having to give back all of this year’s budget increase,” he says.

Districts also got a boost from an unexpected budget surplus this year. Schneider says that was one-time money schools can’t expect to get again after the upcoming fiscal year.

Jake Neher is a reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He covers the State Legislature and other political events in Lansing.
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