Schools Get More For Fewer Students, Spending Interests Claim Cuts

Grand Rapids Public Schools is the largest regular school district in the Kent Intermediate School District.

In 2010-11, the Grand Rapids district enrolled 18,575 students and received $128.3 million in state money, with local and federal money adding more. Last year, the district had 1,882 fewer students than in 2010-11, but it received $132.5 million from the state.

Fewer students, more money. That’s a common pattern at school districts throughout Michigan. Overall state funding for K-12 schools increased from $12.98 billion in 2010-11 to $14.77 billion in 2017-18. That’s a $1.79 billion increase, and it comes despite a 5 percent decline in student enrollment over that seven-year span. The funding data comes from the Michigan Department of Education and the Senate Fiscal Agency.

Yet, readers of an op-ed by Ronald Koehler, an assistant superintendent at the Kent ISD, would have come away with a different impression of school funding.

Koehler is one of a large number of school administrators and teachers union officials who are lobbying for more taxpayer dollars for Michigan public schools. A recent tactic is to focus exclusively on one narrow aspect of the issue – where to allocate increases in state revenue. If the increases are directed to other state priorities, the resulting reduction in the rate of increase for schools is characterized as a cut.

It’s a strategy that caught the attention of former Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, in December.

“When the schools get an increase, but it’s not as much as they think they’re going to get, they think that’s a cut. That’s B.S.,” Meekhof said, according to The Associated Press.

Data from the state of Michigan’s Department of Education debunk Koehler’s claim of funding cuts.

Koehler’s claim was reported in Bridge Magazine: “The $470 per-pupil cut that afforded Gov. Snyder his signature $1.5 billion corporate income tax cut means every child who started kindergarten in 2011 will have had $3,760 less invested in his or her elementary and middle school experience than if there had been no cut at all. For a classroom of 30 — too large, says the research, but common in Michigan — that’s $112,800 less. That could have brought those children the expertise of reading experts and professional development for their teachers. It could have brought a social worker or guidance counselor to those children, to provide expert assistance for social and emotional needs.”

Koehler didn't respond to an email seeking comment.