LANSING – In a move to prevent deep cuts to local schools late in the school year, State Representatives Kate Ebli (D-Monroe) and Kathy Angerer (D-Dundee) today voted for a bipartisan plan that will use a portion of the state's tobacco lawsuit to shore up the state's School Aid Fund.
"This plan will ensure that our schools can provide our students with the high-quality education they need to secure the good-paying jobs of the future," Ebli said. "It is essential that we protect funding for K-12 education as we work to resolve Michigan's unprecedented crisis."
Michigan's schools faced a cut of $125 in per-pupil state funding if Michigan's immediate $803.2 million budget deficit was not resolved. House Democrats today voted to securitize a portion of the $8.5 billion the state received from the 1998 tobacco settlement to protect schools from deep cuts.
"Our children must come first – we can't balance our budget on the backs of our students," Angerer said. "We simply cannot allow our schools to see their funding cut to the bone so late in the year. This is the right thing to do to protect our children."