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Giving Compass' Take:
• Kimberly Hayes Taylor explains how billions of dollars in educations funds in Michigan intended for K-12 programs were diverted to colleges.
• How can this kind of diversion of funds be prevented and stopped?
• Find out how philanthropy could change higher education funding.
What was intended as a one-time budget fix under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm has remained in place for nearly a decade, and has since 2009 diverted $4.5 billion in funding from the state’s K-12 schools to universities and community colleges, according to a report the Michigan League for Public Policy released.
The study states that Granholm initially used money from the School Aid Fund, meant to fund K-12 education, as a one-time “loan” amid the economic downturn in 2009. Since then, however, Governor Rick Snyder’s administration, with support from the Michigan Legislature, has made a budget strategy of shifting School Aid Fund dollars to pay for tax cuts for businesses and wealthy individuals, the report said.
“Over the past eight years, the exception, unfortunately, became the rule, and using School Aid Fund dollars for higher education went from a last resort to the first order of business,” said Gilda Z. Jacobs, president, and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Throughout the Snyder years, conservatives have argued that more money directed at K-12 education wouldn’t necessarily improve outcomes. They pointed out that while school funding has been going up, the state’s test scores have been going down. But the report suggests that at least part of the increased funding has been siphoned off for colleges and universities.
Read the full article about the diversion of education funding by Kimberly Hayes Taylor at Chalkbeat.