Rep. Townsend: 'Cuts Will Have a Devastating Impact on our Schools'

With a 57-53 Thursday night vote, the Republican-controlled House voted in favor of cutting $1.1 billion from K-12 education funding and trim 15 percent from community college and state University aid.

Rep. Jim Townsend (D-Royal Oak) spoke out against the bill before the vote in Lansing on Thursday and said the cuts were clearly opposed by tens of thousands of people who have spoken out in support of schools at town hall meetings and political rallies in recent months.

“The Republicans have manufactured a crisis in school funding by raiding the School Aid Budget, which has a surplus of $650 million, in order to pay for a massive tax cut for corporations,” Townsend said in a statement following the vote. “I know from talking to students, parents, teachers and administrators in my school districts that these cuts will have a devastating impact on our schools.

“After years of cuts, our schools have already eliminated waste and inefficiency and are now facing cuts to important programs and rising class size.”

Royal Oak Community Schools is one of those districts. Already cutting essential services not impacting the classroom, including busing, officials issued layoff notices to 27 teachers and increased class size to 30 students during its April 14 Board of Education meeting. The action was in response to an estimated $5.5 million dollar net loss Superintendent Thomas Moline anticipates the district will see as a result of Gov. Snyder’s proposed cuts announced in February. Snyder proposed a $470 cut in per-pupil funding, $900 million raid on the school aid fund for state colleges and universities, special education funding reduction and health care and pension fund contribution increases.

Other Royal Oak school cuts already made include increasing fees to play school sports and eliminating the student council class at Royal Oak High School.

Moline said if Snyder would leave the Proposal A fund alone, there would be a $260 increase in per-pupil funding for the next school year.

The House-supported plan now moves to the Senate.