DALLAS -- Wayne County, Michigan is asking voters Tuesday for a millage proposal that would raise an additional $385 per student for its 33 school districts.
The proposal would raise property taxes across the county by two mills generating $80 million over a six year period. The county says the money would help fill gaps in the state funding formula.
"The district hasn't seen an increase like that in per pupil funding in the last 25 years," said Kathleen Cummins Merry, a lobbyist for the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency, which serves the county's school districts . From 2011 to 2015 school operating funds for districts in Wayne County dropped by $485 million.
The money would go help reduce class sizes, upgrade technology, hire teachers and improve literacy programs.
Andrea Oquist, the superintendent of Livonia Public Schools, said the $385 per pupil would translate into an addition $5.5 million per year for the district. "That guaranteed revenue stream allows us to look at stabilizing our budget planning as we move forward which is something that had been a challenge over the last eight or nine years," Oquist said on a local radio news show last week.
The vast majority of each school district's operating revenue is dependent on its individual foundational allowance, which is determined by the state on a per-pupil basis.
The state's formula for school funding has come under heightened attention as school districts across the state struggle to make up for a loss of state funding – a result of decreasing student enrollment and an increase in school choice via charter schools.
A study presented to the State Board of Education in August recommended a base cost expenditure of $8,667 per student per student for Michigan schools and further recommends that schools receive additional funding for impoverished students at 30% of base funding and for English language learners at 40%.
In the current school year, local school districts will be receiving a base amount of between $7,511 and $8,229 per pupil.
Michigan's constitution gives the state control over funding for public schools with the one exception of an enhancement millage that can be passed at the county level for operating purposes.
The state requires that any money generated from an enhancement millage be shared equally on a per-student basis among the local school districts within that county, with each district being given control of how the dollars would be used to support their students.
