LANSING, Mich. — In his annual budget proposal, Gov. Rick Snyder announced a plan to tie increases in school funding to student performance, according to The Associated Press. Districts will be able to compete for $70 million in extra state funding by showing a year’s worth of improvement in reading or math or by maintaining above-average performance in several subjects over four years.
The AP reports critics are concerned the program does not go far enough.
"We have not combined accountability reforms with sufficient resources to empower great teaching, and turbocharge our colleges and universities as engines of opportunity," said John Austin, a Democratic member of the State Board of Education.
But Gov. Snyder told The AP that funds should not be doled out simply because people ask for them.
"This year we had a surplus, so we had a lot of requests for funding," he told The AP. "But good budgeting isn't about taking that surplus and giving everyone a little bit more money ... (it's about) rewarding success and results."
SOURCE:
The Associated Press, “Mich. governor ties extra school cash to learning,” Feb. 9, 2012
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “The Unstable Funding Myth,” June 24, 2010
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