News Briefs

Midwest governor fights for schools

Apr 10, 2008 3:59 PM

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to make it mandatory for all state schools to offer daylong kindergarten. She also wants smaller high schools set up. For laid-off workers, her “No Worker Left Behind” program would offer two years of free community college tuition in order to train dislocated workers for jobs that are in demand, such as health technology positions. In order to fund this, Granholm would increase spending by 2.9 percent. The measures are popular and are expected to breeze through the state’s Democratic-led House.

It’s the Republican-led Senate where passage is tricky. Senate GOP leaders says it’s too much. They even want to cut spending increases for K-12 school districts. Where Granholm wants to offer public schools an additional $108 to $216 per child, the Senate says $71 to $142 more per student is good enough given budget exigencies.

Granholm also wants to borrow money to create up to 100 small high schools, but Senate leaders instead propose giving every school district about $20 per student to spend on buildings. The cash could be used to pay off debt or make immediate building repairs, or it could be put aside until there’s enough to do a major construction project.

Associated Press, March 24