LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Doubling fuel taxes. Shoring up bankrupt Detroit’s pensions funds. Raising the
minimum wage.
Michigan
lawmakers are tackling hefty issues in the last weeks before they break
for the summer. So it’s easy to forget they’re also trying to finalize
Gov. Rick Snyder’s $52 billion spending plan — the conclusion of which
is related to the bankruptcy and transportation legislation.
A
look at some key issues that the Republican governor and GOP-controlled
Legislature have to resolve before he can sign the 2014-15 state budget
in June:
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ROADS AND BRIDGES
A push to spend much
more on road and bridge construction, possibly by at least doubling fuel
taxes, wasn’t included in Snyder’s proposal. But he supports raising at
least $1.3 billion a year more — his past call to hike gasoline and
license plate taxes hit resistance — and whatever legislators do will
affect the budget.
The House plan would set aside $500 million a
year more by 2018. Most would come from ensuring that sales tax
collected at the pump that the state constitution doesn’t require for
schools and local governments goes to the transportation budget, which
also would get a portion of use taxes collected on out-of-state
purchases and by hotels.
The bolder but more politically
challenging Senate plan — which hasn’t cleared the chamber — could raise
$1.5 billion more within four years, mainly by gradually more than
doubling the state’s gasoline and diesel taxes.
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TESTS
A
plan to replace the Michigan Educational Assessment Program next school
year with tests aligned with new national education standards has led
to considerable pushback. Legislators don’t want to fund the exams
developed by the Smarter Balanced consortium, a group of states —
including Michigan — adopting Common Core standards that spell out what
math and English skills students should have at each grade.
Republicans
say the standards can still be implemented if new MEAP tests are given
the next two years while Michigan requests bids for alternative tests.
Some Democrats also have reservations with the exams. Concerns range
from schools’ readiness to give tests on computers, the length of the
exams and their complexity.
The state Education Department says
it’s too late to change direction. Angry legislators are threatening to
move responsibility for standardized testing from the education agency
to the Treasury Department.
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SCHOOLS
Since Michigan
revamped how it pays for K-12 schools 20 years ago, a goal is to reduce
the funding gap among districts. The difference is now $973 per
student, down from a disparity of $2,300 in 1994. But the fight for
equity continues and is evident in competing plans pitched by Snyder and
legislators.
Snyder proposes increasing the minimum per-pupil
grant by $111 to $7,187 and the maximum by $83 to $8,132, only partly
adhering to a "2x" formula in which lower-funded districts get twice the
increase that higher-funded districts do.
The House would boost
the minimum by $112 and the maximum by $56 while kicking in another $16
per pupil to every district. The Senate funding increase would range
from $300 for lower-funded schools to $150 for higher-funded schools —
made possible by eliminating some categorical funding based on student
performance and if schools meet "best practices."
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REVENUE
Lawmakers
are comfortable with many of Snyder’s key proposals — paying for more
lower-income 4-year-olds to attend preschool, hiring extra state police
and conservation officers, boosting funding for public universities, and
giving bigger revenue-sharing payments to local governments (though
there’s an effort to stop attaching strings for municipalities to get
the money).
But recently revised revenue estimates mean there’s
$616 million less to spend from the $21 billion school aid and general
funds than anticipated when Snyder proposed his budget in February.
A
tax cut already has been ruled out. Once negotiators set spending
targets for individual budgets — possibly this week — there could be
smaller funding hikes than initially planned.
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DETROIT
In
bipartisan fashion, the House voted last week to transfer $194.8 from
Michigan’s $580 million savings accounts toward a deal to prevent steep
cuts in retiree pensions and the sale of valuable city-owned art in
Detroit’s bankruptcy case. The Senate will consider the bills next.