MichiganRadio

Already Troubled School Districts Face A New Financial Hurdle GRAND RAPIDS, MI (Michigan Radio) - School districts across the state could lose up to $300 or more per student, if the current budget figures in Lansing hold.

Many school districts in Michigan were already in trouble before Governor Granholm announced massive cuts in state funding. Twenty six districts statewide are currently operating in deficit, which means they basically don't have enough money to pay their bills.

After this year, some estimate that more than 100 schools could be in deficit.
State superintendent Mike Flanagan says all school districts will have to cut to stay solvent.

"But I think there's a point where districts, you know, under the law, they need have to have a balanced budget," he says. "So I think they'll just make the cuts they have to make in order to not have a deficit."

School districts are still figuring out just how deep those cuts will have to be. But it's likely that many school programs will have to close, many teachers will be laid off and some schools will close - unless the state finds a way to raise more money.

Contact Dustin Dwyer at dtdwyer@umich.edu.

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