News of the Day

Governor Granholm to Delay School Proration

At a 4:00 p.m. press conference yesterday, Gov. Granholm announced that she will delay the $127 per pupil proration cut in school aid payments this month. She justified making the move because state revenues in November showed the first increase since last January.

The cuts were to take effect this month after the Legislature failed in November to take action to reverse the pro-ration she ordered because of declining revenues.

The cuts will be delayed until the January revenue conference, which is scheduled for January 11, 2010.

Treasurer Bob Klein and Budget Director Bob Emerson reported that spending on several K-12 categoricals from 2009 was lower than anticipated giving the School Aid Fund (SAF) a carry-forward balance going into fiscal year 2010.

Meanwhile, figures released by the Senate Fiscal Agency showed that November revenues totaled $1.6 billion, up .8 percent from November 2008 and the first monthly revenue increase since January.

With the delay of the $127 pro-rata cut, the total amount cut in fiscal year 2010 would be $165 per pupil.