Today we were summoned into the governor’s office for a meeting with representatives of the school community including MASA and MSBO. The topic of the meeting was the imminent proration of $127 per pupil.

 

Gov. Granholm announced to the group that she would be directing the Department of Education (MDE) to pause the proration process until after the revenue estimating conference. It turns out that the School Aid Fund (SAF) carried over an unanticipated $50 million of unspent money from local school districts and non-homestead property tax collections were about $100 million higher than expected. Combined with other smaller amounts, the governor feels comfortable holding off on the proration until the House, Senate and executive come together on Jan. 11, to agree on revenue for the year.

 

That gives districts across the state a little bit of breathing room in terms of the proration but the $165 per pupil cut and the line item vetoes will still happen. With this new news it’s entirely possible that there will not be a proration or that the proration will be reduced from the $127 per pupil. I’d caution against celebrating yet as all the details have not been figured out and the year end book closing process isn’t quite over yet.

 

The House and Senate both passed out HB 4377 today. What’s that? Well, it’s a bill that would ban smoking in public places. This version of the ban does allow smoking in casinos and in cigar bars. Once the governor signs this legislation, Michigan will go smoke free on May 1, 2010.

 

Also today, the House Education Committee met for the last time this calendar year to pass out SB 925. This bill would allow for schools of excellence. These schools of excellence would be chartered by high achieving charter entities and would expand the charter cap in increments. This legislation is a moving target in terms of final language. It will go onto conference committee along with all the rest of the Race to the Top legislation. This process will unfold in the next week. Stay tuned for details.

 

I’d also like to share a bit of personal good news. For those of you who follow my personal tweets, this will come as a relief. My favorite restaurant in Lansing once offered a sandwich. It was a delicious combination of shaved turkey, cranberry jelly and bread stuffing all on buttered wheat toast. This Thanksgiving sandwich was my favorite menu item. It was removed from the menu sometime in April. Since then, I’ve been on a personal quest to restore this item to the menu. Today, it was back on the menu available for consumption – victory is mine!

1 comment(s) so far...

Re: Breathing Room Congratulations on your victory! Persistence can pay off :) By PATRICEH on   Wednesday, December 16, 2009 9:53 AM

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