Why is more money being cut and what are "20j" funds?
What the Governor vetoed in the education appropriations bills on October 20th were 20j funds. In order to get Proposal A passed in 1994, it was agreed that some districts would be "held harmless" -- they can levy homestead property taxes for local school operating purposes and levy more than 18 mills of nonhomestead property taxes for the same purposes. In 1999 they discovered an "oops" in the law and 20j came into being. If you want to understand more about the history of 20j  read here. Clarkston is not a 20j district.

The Legislature is ticked off at the Governor because they passed a (bipartisan) balanced budget for school funding. This is where we got the $165/pupil cut a couple of weeks ago. The budget must be passed by the information from the May revenue-estimating conference and the budget passed by the Legislature does that. You can read the non-partisan House Legislative analysis and Senate fiscal analysis on HB 4447 (the school aid bill) here.

The Governor justified her veto by saying that new budget projections show even more cuts are needed, so she vetoed the 20j plus several other line items in the school aid budget. On October 22th, based on information from her State Budget Director, she said there would need to be another $127/pupil from everyone's school aid funding.  For those keeping score at home, that's $292 for each kid in Clarkston, or roughly $2.3M. Remember when there was such arguing over keeping too much money in the fund equity?  We are among the districts best positioned to absorb that kind of cut and it would be really ugly here.

Did the legislature pass a balanced budget as required? Yes.
Is the Budget Director correct in his revenue loss estimations? Possibly, even likely.
Is the Governor correct in saying that further budget cuts will be needed in January? Likely. But nothing says those cuts have to come from the school aid budget in January.

So the Governor is misleading people in saying that a balanced budget wasn't presented, because it was, even though everyone now knows the May projections are off. And the legislature is misleading in saying the budget presented will fully fund schools this year, because everyone knows May's projections are off and January is out there waiting for us. And the Governor made the cuts in school aid instead of another budget because she knows that's the one thing that will get We The People riled up. She wants tax hikes to preserve funding for other services and she's got leverage with school funding to pressure for them. The Legislature will be forced to raise taxes or let the school cuts stand -- unless they can get bills passed that use revenues by freezing tax credits to cover the shortfall.

What's so important about the timing of this? If the legislature doesn't get another budget to the Gov within 30 days of signing the bill (Nov. 19), her vetoes take effect. Beginning in December, checks will stop. The new revenue projections will come out in January and will surely show a deficit. We are clearly facing a fiscal crisis that must be addressed in a timely manner. Between vacations for hunting season and other holidays, last year the House met for a total of 18 days from the end of October through the beginning of February. The Senate met 17.

Tired of the disingenuous smack talk between the Governor, the Senate Majority Leader (who, by the way, represents Clarkston), and the Speaker of the House? Give them a call and let them know that you want them to fund schools and how you want them to do it:
Senator Mike Bishop 517-373-2417
Speaker Andy Dillon (517) 373-0857
Governor Jennifer Granholm (517) 373-3400