Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) announced Democrat’s intentions to introduce a constitutional amendment to prevent the use of School Aid Fund (SAF) dollars for higher education and community colleges. The move by Democrats is in response to Governor Rick Snyder’s budget proposal, which includes using $452 per pupil from the SAF for higher education and $296 per pupil for community colleges.
The amendment would reportedly eliminate “higher education” from Article IX, Section 11 of the Michigan Constitution, which currently reads:
“There shall be a state school aid fund which shall be used exclusively for aid to school districts, higher education and school employees’ retirement systems, as provided by law.”
An amendment to the Constitution would require two-thirds approval by both chambers of the Legislature, a tall task given the significant Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate; however, a task Senator Whitmer claims to be on the road to surmounting as she described the support of two Republican Senators and two Republican Representatives.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on K-12 school funding, Representative Bill Rogers (R-Brighton), stated that he is open to the Governor’s proposal to use SAF dollars for community colleges and higher education as an option given the budget deficit.