Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on March 3, 2004, the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004-2005 Department of Education budget. (Note: Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposed budget for this department is Senate Bill 1038.) This appropriates $113.9 million in adjusted gross spending (funded from all sources, including special state restricted fund and federal pass-through dollars, minus interdepartmental transfers), compared to $113.3 million, which was the FY 2003-2004 amount enrolled in 2003. Of this, $28.4 million will come from the general fund (funded by actual state tax revenues), compared to $29.0 million in FY 2003-2004. The Senate version authorizes approximately $500,000 less in gross spending than the governor recommended. Much more information on Michigan’s budget is available at Hot Topics: Michigan’s Budget Challenge at www.mackinac.org/4964

The vote was 37 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 183 at Senate Journal 34)

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Senator Switalski asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal. The motion prevailed. Senator Switalski's statement is as follows: This amendment restores $24,000 for per diems for State Board of Education members. The State Board of Education is a constitutional office established in Article 8, Section 3 and given the following duties: leadership and general supervision over all public education. There are eight members on the board. They are elected by a statewide ballot, and the $24,000 is split among the eight members. That means they are paid the princely sum of about $3,000 a piece for their public service. That is less than I made as a Roseville city councilman about 15 years ago. We have heard that other boards don't get per diems, but other boards are not elected by the people of Michigan. There is a fundamental difference between the Bean Commission or the Board of Barber Examiners or the Carrot Commission and the State Board of Education. Other boards and commissions are appointed to their positions by the Governor. These people, like ourselves, run for office and are chosen by the voters. They oversee a $65 million budget and hire the state superintendent of schools. That is an important job. We are sending the wrong message with this cut. We are saying we don't respect the work these people do. We are sending a message that it has no value. How can we reconcile this action with our frequent pronouncements that education is our top priority? You can disagree with the board. I disagree with them frequently and overrule them on policy when it is appropriate. But that is different from disrespecting them and the job they do. Now I know these are tough budget times. There are only 3 million state dollars in this whole budget, but the bill before us is $62,000 below the Governor's recommendation. Restoring this item will still leave us $40,000 below the Governor's recommendation. I implore the Senate to adopt this amendment and restore this small, but symbolic, reimbursement.