For years now a handful of Michigan school districts have been enjoying a level of per-pupil state aid that other districts -- including most in northwest Lower Michigan -- can only dream of.
It is the continuing price most public school students and their taxpaying parents are bearing for the political clout of a handful of Oakland and Wayne County districts that has nothing to do with education, fairness or need.
It's long past time the rest of the Legislature stood up and did something about it.
Righting that inequity would be a perfect career-ending goal for the region's two state senators -- Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, and Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau -- who are both term-limited and facing the last two years of their tenure in the Legislature. Most members of the region's state House contingent are in the last months of their final terms.
This is hardly a new issue. Not long after voters approved Proposal A in 1994, the Legislature passed enabling legislation that gave more per-pupil state aid to a handful of districts, most of them the wealthiest in the state. The reasoning was that these districts had taxed themselves more than most and shouldn't be punished for doing so.
The legislation also called for the per-pupil gap to be narrowed until virtually all districts got the same amount of aid, but that hasn't really happened. The so-called 20(J) districts -- those getting higher stipends -- have continued to reap much more than districts like Traverse City.
Today, most districts get $7,204 per pupil, while some 20(J) districts still get more than $12,000. If Traverse City was funded at the level Birmingham schools are -- $12,303 per student -- its state contribution would soar by more than $51 million per year.
Some progress is being made. A funding proposal approved by the Senate Wednesday calls for a $71 per-pupil increase for all districts plus an additional $71 per pupil for the lowest-funded. It must also be noted, however, that the Senate appropriations committee had to first purge a proposal to give the 20(J) districts a $40 per-pupil cost of living increase. The bill now goes to the House.
Northern educators and others have been working to close the gap for years. A northern Michigan-based group called Citizens for Equity has attracted statewide support. Rep. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City, was an early supporter. Earlier this month at least 40 school administrators and school board members went to Lansing to lobby against the $40 increase.
More must be done, however, and this is a perfect time for an all-out blitz. There are dozens of lawmakers who represent multiple poverty-level districts; they must be energized to put their constituents' needs first to one, raise all school funding and two, better distribute what dollars the state has now.
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