School District Gets More, But Superintendent Complains About ‘Do More For Less’

Mark Greathead, superintendent of Woodhaven-Brownstown School District, chimed in Thursday on a deal between Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative leaders to get extra money for road repairs and environmental cleanup projects by diverting some expected state revenue increases to them. Without the agreement, most of the new money would otherwise go to the School Aid Fund.

“Every superintendent in Michigan has been forced to work within the ‘do more with less’ model of school administration over the last many years, but I certainly doubt any of us expected to be told we now have to pay to fix Michigan roads,” Greathead said, according to The Detroit News.

Like many claims by public school administrators about having less, this one doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, especially at Greathead’s school district.

Woodhaven-Brownstown has seen its state funding (not including local and federal dollars) increase from $6,391 per pupil in 2010-11 to $8,003 per pupil in 2017-18. After adjusting for inflation, the district received the equivalent of $869 more per pupil in 2017-18.

The district’s general fund revenues (which include state, federal and local funding) increased from $40.5 million in 2010-11 to $54.4 million. Once inflation is factored in, the district’s general fund revenues were $9.2 million higher in 2017-18 compared to seven years earlier.

The Woodhaven-Brownstown financial data was derived from figures obtained from the Michigan Department of Education, the Center for Educational Performance and Information and the district’s own comprehensive annual financial report

On Thursday the Legislature enacted the revenue diversion plan and Snyder is expected to sign it. The money diverted from schools is expected to be made up by higher sales tax collections from taxing internet purchases, which under a recent U.S. Supreme Court will no longer be prohibited under federal law. This means that the School Aid Fund won’t lose money, but going forward it won’t get as much additional revenue as it would have without the deal.