Why Won't It Die? Media Keeps Pushing School Funding Cuts Myth

The Dearborn Press and Guide has repeated a myth still perpetuated by many in the media when it wrote that state funding has been cut to public schools.

A story about Glenn Maleyko, the new superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools, stated: Fewer people are going into teaching, which is understandable, he said. The pay scale is lower than what many professionals earn with a bachelor’s degree, and it takes longer these days for teachers to climb to the top of the pay scale, a change forced on districts by stagnant or reduced state funding.

ForTheRecord says: Despite numerous erroneous media reports over the past few years, state funding has not gone down in Michigan. It has increased in each of Gov. Rick Snyder’s five K-12 budgets.

In the case of Dearborn, total state funding has increased from $7,012 per pupil in 2010-11 (former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s last budget) to $7,497 per pupil in 2014-15.