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COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday signed into law a $16.1 billion education budget, which includes a per-student spending increase ranging from $60 to $120 to decrease the gap between higher- and lower-funded public school districts.
The Republican governor called the spending plan an "unprecedented investment" at a bill-signing event in suburban Detroit.
For the first time in state history, the budget includes $2.5 million to assist private schools with the cost of complying with state requirements like employee background checks, immunization reporting and safety drills. Public school advocates objected to the spending and asked the governor for a line-item veto.
Snyder supported the allocation but said he was still reviewing "potential legal issues" with the private school aid and might ask for an opinion from the Michigan Supreme Court or state attorney general.
Overall spending on pre-K through 12 education will increase 1.9 percent in the fiscal year that starts in October. The minimum per-pupil grant will jump from $7,391 to $7,511, or 1.6 percent; the basic level will rise from $8,169 to $8,229, or 0.7 percent.
"It's important to try to close that gap," Snyder told The Associated Press after the event.
The budget includes a "huge" $1 billion-plus allocation for the school employee retirement system, up from "essentially nothing just a few years ago," Snyder said before signing the legislation alongside Republican lawmakers and others at a middle school in Oakland County's Commerce Township.
The law also authorizes the first $72 million payment toward bailing out and restructuring the debt-ridden Detroit Public Schools over a number of years.
The state will spend 2.9 percent more on operations at state universities. But overall higher education aid — including for six of the 15 universities — will remain below what it was before a major cut by Snyder and the GOP-controlled Legislature five years ago, despite his initial proposal this year to bring them back to the levels in place when he took office.
"That is one area I still am committed to working on," Snyder said. Tuition and fee increases will be capped at 4.2 percent, allowing for bigger hikes than in the current budget.
Many Democrats voted against the bill due to university funding levels, aid for private schools — which critics say is unconstitutional — and $5 million for new "CEOs" to take over personnel and curriculum decisions in East Detroit and potentially other districts in the bottom 5 percent academically.
Online schools will continue receiving the same funding as traditional schools while many "for-profit" charter schools will get the maximum $120 per-student increase, Rep. Sarah Roberts of St. Clair Shores said.
"Cyberschools do not have the same costs as traditional brick-and-mortar schools. What do they do with all that money? Some states actually have developed a separate formula for cyber schools," said Roberts, the ranking Democrat on the House school aid budget subcommittee.
Snyder predicted that the money for nonpublic schools would be challenged in the courts once the budget takes effect on Oct. 1.
"If there's ways we can get better advice or better answers sooner, I'd rather get clarity to it," he told the AP in reference to seeking a legal opinion.
The education budget also includes $10.1 million to provide early intervention and hire more nurses and social workers to help Flint children potentially affected by the city's water crisis.
Snyder plans to sign the rest of the new state budget and supplemental adjustments to the current budget, including about $160 million more toward the Flint emergency, later this week.
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Online:
Senate Bill 801: http://1.usa.gov/1OdEu7r
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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert
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