Michigan schools brace for the loss of further funding

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – The budget stalemate in Lansing could be coming to an end.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop could send the last six, unsigned, budget bills to Governor Jennifer Granholm as early as Tuesday. Bishop has been holding onto the bills, afraid that Granholm would veto them, leading to tax increases.

The governor has said she'll likely veto parts of the bills that she opposes, such as cuts to the Michigan Promise, Medicaid, and local police and fire protection.

We're also learning that cuts to Michigan's budget may be worse than originally thought. The current agreement, yet to be signed by the governor, calls for a $165 per-pupil funding cut, but with tax revenue numbers off by $264 million, the governor is warning that those cuts could double.

The question on many people's minds is whether there is anything that the schools can do to adjust to funding cuts that seem to just get deeper and deeper.

Lawmakers have levied some criticism at districts, saying that they simply haven't cut enough knowing that there's a financial emergency. On Monday, superintendents in several districts spoke up, saying there's no more fat left to cut, and many administrators say they're looking at a bleak future.

You could say that Forest Hills has some of the nicest schools, and frankly some of the nicest funding levels of any local district, thanks to Proposal A, but superintendent Dan Behm says Forest Hills is just like every other school district in the state, struggling to figure out how to handle the possibility of a mid-year, multi-million dollar cut in funding.

"I don't think there's fat that exists out there in districts in this point in time," said Behm.

Behm says he's cut millions from his budget over the years and is preparing for the state to either use what's left of the stimulus dollars, or cut his funding by another $165 per-pupil.

"Every single revenue stream funding schools is falling quickly," said Behm.

Behm says if nothing changes, he sees a day where half of the 550 school districts in Michigan could be in receivership, essentially bankrupt. He sees scenarios where schools could run out of money to operate mid-year and be forced to close down.

"We're all headed toward a situation where the ends do not meet and we need to make adjustments now," said Behm.

Leaders in Grand Rapids say schools in the district may be forced to close in the next school year if the state cuts revenue again.

"We're going to have major decisions to be made in the next few months about how we balance the budget for this school year," said John Helmholdt of Grand Rapids Public Schools. "in advance of the following school year which is being called the 'cliff year' because the federal stimulus money runs out at that point."

School administrators are pointing out that there's simply no silver bullet to fix the problem. All the revenue streams for schools are going down and major changes would have to be made in very short order.