Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder announced Thursday a plan to tie state education funding with test scores, a move that could serve as a model for state lawmakers across the U.S.
“This legislation supports our mission to put Michigan school districts, including DPS, in the best possible position to meet their fiscal challenges, emerge stronger, and ensure students can get the quality education they need and deserve,” Mr. Snyder said in a statement.
Mr. Snyder has proposed offering $200 million to K-12 school districts that engage in best practices and increasing funding to state universities by $36.2 million or 3 percent, with much of it tied to performance incentives and keeping tuition hikes to no more than 4 percent. The Michigan Republican said the education proposal would allow the state to move forward with a comprehensive reform plan, rather than patchwork policies.
“Ongoing spending and one-time revenues are no longer co-mingled,” Mr. Snyder said. “This new budgeting approach is a major reform from past practice, where one-time funding was added to base spending creating the condition for structural imbalance.”
The Michigan Republican’s announcement comes as Detroit public schools have come under increasing scrutiny concerning its funding. A proposal passed by state lawmakers could allow certain school districts and intermediate schools districts under an emergency manager or deficit elimination plan to use school aid payments to bolster the security of bonds issued by the school district.
The proposal requires no additional appropriation or state indebtedness, rather it simply ensures bondholders will have less risk now and in any future financing and reduces borrowing costs for failing school districts, according to policy makers.
