Michigan lawmakers bought themselves more time by passing a continuation budget on Wednesday, but the ongoing delay has frustrated school officials and education advocates.
“What is right for kids is getting the budget done on time, and hopefully providing a budget that doesn’t raid the school aid fund to pay for roads,” said RJ Webber, superintendent for Northville Public Schools.
“The damage has already been done when schools didn’t get their budget on time in July,” said Robert McCann, the executive director of the K-12 Alliance.
“The state has put us in a very precarious position,” said Nick Russo, the superintendent of Rochester Community Schools.
The continuation budget is meant as an interim step until the full fiscal year budget is signed into law.
Officials say the upcoming annual budget “will ensure top priorities for both Democrats and Republicans are included in the bipartisan budget,” Whitmer’s office said in a news release. That includes funding for state and local roads, decreasing taxes, protecting Medicaid, and providing free breakfast and lunch for students.
Details on the full budget and the funding for schools are still unknown, which educators and advocates tell CBS News Detroit is deeply frustrating.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state Superintendent Michael Rice sent a letter to school districts on Wednesday, urging them to continue funding school meals.
After months of uncertainty and a patchwork of solutions forming from district to district, Webber said the letter hit the wrong tone.
“To me, that is an incredibly divisive and inappropriate statement to make,” Webber said. “There are districts that are 2% fund balance right now, 3% fund balance. What are they supposed to do? They are they need to keep enough money in their operating funds to keep the district moving. So that was a hard thing to read, frankly.”
Russo said it’s not just school meals that are at risk, but so is payroll. He said his district has a rainy day fund to dip into, but not every district does.
“Our best estimate right now is that it costs between 20 and $25,000 a day to provide the meals, which is pretty astronomical number. The longer this goes, the greater chance we have of not being able to fund our payroll,” Russo said. “There are districts across the state that will be scrambling if a budget is not passed soon.”
Officials say the legislature will vote on the budget once it has been finalized.
Russo noted that even if a vote happens on Thursday, it could still take time for a legal review and final signature.