Nothing More Certain Than Taxes and School Officials Wanting More of Them

In a discussion about public school funding in the statewide news site MLive, Ann Arbor Public Schools board treasurer Harmony Mitchell made this comment: “If you would just take half of what you’re giving to corrections and fund schooling, you wouldn’t have to fund corrections in the first place. I think the priorities are somehow messed up here.”

ForTheRecord says: The state budgeted $2.0 billion for corrections in the 2016-17 fiscal year, so Mitchell’s suggestion comes to an additional $1.0 billion in school funding.

From 2012-13 through the current school year, the amount of state tax dollars allocated to public education in Michigan rose from $11.2 billion to $12.3 billion. That was a $1.1 billion increase. There is still crime in Michigan, and the public school establishment is still asking for more tax dollars.