Snyder Withdraws Plan That Would Have cut Per-Pupil Spending by $300: Report

Updated. Gov. Rick Snyder said late Wednesday that he was withdrawing a plan that would have cut public school funding by more than $425 million. Snyder had wanted to use money in the income tax-funded School Aid Fund for other purposes, according to reports.

"It’s not going to happen during lame-duck,” Snyder spokesman Ari Adler told The Detroit News, which first reported the lame-duck session proposal. “The governor has asked for it to be held. It’s the right thing to do, but it’s not the right time to do it.”

An executive outline of the plan obtained by The Detroit News promotes a plan Snyder says is designed to create "equitability" in the collection of income taxes. About 24 percent of Michiganders' state income tax payments go into the School Aid Fund, but when refunds are made, 100 percent of payments come out of the general fund.

That creates "an unfairness between the two funds," Snyder said in the memo obtained by the newspaper.

If implemented, the plan would jeopardize a "fair and consistent" funding stream to local schools, critics said.

Mark Burton, executive director of the Tri-County Alliance, said the plan would cut per-pupil spending by $300.

"Gov. Snyder’s newly revealed proposal to siphon money from the School Aid Fund to bail out the state’s General Fund would threaten to weaken the quality of our children’s instruction, spark widespread teacher layoffs, increase class sizes and even force school closures," Burton said.

» For more on this story, go to The Detroit News.

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