K-16 Coalition - Legislative Initiative

The K-16 Coalition for Michigan's Future announced January 17 that the required number of petition signatures were collected. Thanks to the efforts of parents, educators, students and concerned citizens, in 120 days we collected over 300,000 signatures-proving that there is statewide support for the K-16 Coalition legislative initiative.

Here are specifics regarding the legislative initiative for adequate education funding for kindergarten - university students. When passed by the Legislature or approved by the voters, this initiative will address:

• Cost of Living Increase - provide annual funding increases equal to inflation for K-12 schools, community colleges and universities.


• Equity - reduce the gap between lowest-spending and highest-spending K-12 districts from $1,300 to $1,000 between 2007 and 2012.


• Pension Costs - cap retirement contribution at the current 14.87% of payroll for K-12 districts, community colleges and universities.


• Declining Enrollment - base funding for K-12 school districts with declining enrollment based on the student enrollment average of the three prior fiscal years.

Keeping K-16 in Perspective:

• K-16 Coalition initiative is NOT a tax proposal and it is NOT a constitutional amendment.


• One criticism leveled by legislators about this proposal is that it may "tie the legislature's hands" in dealing with appropriations. This proposal does not tie their hands. K-16 does provide schools, community colleges and universities an automatic inflationary increase (CPI or 5% whichever is less), BUT the legislature can change that, for better or worse, by a simple majority vote through the normal appropriations process. In addition, this does NOT eliminate executive order cuts.


• The majority of education funding come from the STATE in the form of a per-student basis.


• The current education funding crisis has impacted students severely - classroom and program cuts, textbook and supply cuts, class size increases, special services discontinued, support service cuts, extracurricular and after-school program cuts - while at the same time increasing expectations and demands placed on schools and students.


• The K-16 legislative initiative is a reasonable legislative solution to the education funding crisis. Over 300,000 Michigan voters support K-16.

Talking Points for K-12 Districts:

• Educators are committed to improving student achievement, but cannot do what is expected and required by No Child Left Behind and Education YES!, MEAP testing, and possibly additional high school course requirements if lawmakers do not live up to their promise to provide adequate funding.


• Schools must be accountable for results - but it is the Legislature's responsibility to provide the money and the means for every child to have access to teachers who are prepared, experienced and tested; manageable class sizes; up-to-date textbooks and technology.


• Districts are responsible to their students to provide a quality education but skyrocketing energy costs for electricity and gas have resulted in higher monthly heating, maintenance and busing expenses, which means less money for the classroom.

Talking Points for Higher Education:

• The days of walking out of high school and getting a good paying job in the plant are over! Making a solid, steady investment in education NOW means our students will be able to compete for high-tech and other good paying jobs, which create jobs and grows our economy.


• The state's per-student spending at our universities has spiraled down from $6,840 in 2000 to $5,721 in 2004 - a difference of $1,120 in just four years. The state has cut $240 million, or 15% of funding for universities in just 18 months.


• This funding loss for higher education occurs at a critical time when Michigan is losing jobs, unemployment remains high, and when it is imperative to greatly increase the number of college-educated citizens for Michigan's transition to high-skill, high-wage jobs in a knowledge-based economy.

bk:opeiu42aflcio: February 21, 2006