2004 Senate Bill 1193 (Appropriations: School Aid supplemental budget)

Public Act 518 of 2004

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Introduced by Sen. Shirley Johnson (R) on May 13, 2004, to provide a "template" or "place holder" for a potential supplemental multi-section school aid budget for the 2004 and 2005 fiscal years. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended at a later date to include some.
- Referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 13, 2004.
- Reported in the Senate on June 1, 2004, with the recommendation that the bill pass.
- Substitute offered in the Senate on December 1, 2004, to provide a "place holder" bill for potential action on closing a deficit in the School Aid Fund with money from the General Fund. See Senate-passed bill for details. The substitute passed in the Senate by voice vote on December 1, 2004.
Passed in the Senate (37 to 0) on December 1, 2004, to provide a "place holder" bill for potential action on closing a deficit in the School Aid Fund with money from the General Fund. See Senate-passed bill for details. This came a day before a revenue estimating conference projected a $113.2 million deficit in the 2004-2005 School Aid Fund. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the House on December 1, 2004.
- Referred to the House Appropriations Committee on December 1, 2004.
- Substitute offered by Rep. Marc Shulman (R) on December 7, 2004, to replace the previous version of the bill with one that would transfer approximately $20 million from the state General Fund to cover a shortfall in the Fiscal Year 2003-2004 School Aid Fund. The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on December 7, 2004.
Passed in the House (105 to 0) on December 7, 2004, to transfer approximately $20 million from the state General Fund to cover a School Aid Fund shortfall for the Fiscal Year 2003-2004 that ended Sept. 30, 2004. The bill does not address a $113.2 million deficit in the current FY 2004-2005 School Aid Fund. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the Senate on December 8, 2004.
Passed in the Senate (37 to 0) on December 9, 2004, to authorize the transfer of $119.5 million from the General Fund to the School Aid Fund, to close an FY 2003-2004 and an FY 2004-2005 deficit in the latter. Also, to prohibit an Intermediate School District (ISD) "double dipping" scheme, in which certain special education staff are employed by both the ISD and the regular school district. This "shared-employment" allows the ISD (but not the staffers) to get more state money. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the House on December 8, 2004.
- Substitute offered by Rep. Randy Richardville (R) on December 8, 2004, to replace the previous version of the bill with one that authorizes the transfer of another $99.5 million from the General Fund to the School Aid Fund, so as to also close an FY 2004-2005 deficit in the latter. The entire transfer would now be $119.5 million. The substitute also prohibits an Intermediate School District "double dipping" special education funding scheme (see House-passed bill for details) . The substitute passed in the House by voice vote on December 8, 2004.
- Amendment offered by Rep. Jack Minore (D) on December 8, 2004, to make the ISD "double dipping" scheme prohibition in the bill prospective only, so that three ISDs now using the scheme would not lose the extra money in the current school year. The amendment failed in the House by voice vote on December 8, 2004.
Passed in the House (102 to 7) on December 8, 2004, to authorize the transfer of $119.5 million from the General Fund to the School Aid Fund, to close an FY 2003-2004 and an FY 2004-2005 deficit in the latter. Also, to prohibit an Intermediate School District (ISD) "double dipping" scheme, in which certain special education staff are employed by both the ISD and the regular school district. This "shared-employment" allows the ISD (but not the staffers) to get more state money. [Vote Details and Comments]
Signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on January 3, 2005.

Most Recent Comments

1) Lottery Money? [by Anonymous Citizen on December 13, 2004]
To answer your question about where the lottery money has gone, my bet is that it has gone to schools as the letter of the law has required.

The problem is that lottery income never was destined (by the Legislature) to really supplement state allocations to public schools -- and the lottery enabling proposals never said it was. So in very simple terms what has happened is that for every dollar in lottery money allocated to schools, a dollar of general fund money is taken away from schools and diverted elsewhere. Net supplement for schools (courtesy of the lotter) thus has been zero.

Of course, the public really didn’t get it and instead embraced the lottery as a real solution to boosting public school aid from the state. The same kind of shell game was virtually assured by Proposal A, which also crippled local school districts’ ability to raise funds needed for continued support of their programs.
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2) lottery money [by Anonymous Citizen on December 13, 2004]
If there are any older folks reading this, they might remember some of the wording that went around when the first of now several lottery schemes that are now out there were first started. It was said that all of the monies taken in were "earmarked for schools." Now just where has all of that money gone over the last how many years? Just what do the political people do with all of the money that is allocated in the state budget? How is it that they can raid any pocket that has money in it for any purpose other than what it was intended for? Why and how do they get away with it? If they are incompetent then why aren't they shown to be and then replaced with anyone that might do a better job at handling our tax money.
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3) School Funds [by Anonymous Citizen on December 9, 2004]
This bill would not have been neccessary if as promised the lotery funds went to the schools in the first place.
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