Lansing School Funding Deal Could Spell Trouble for Gov. Whitmer
Cheyna Roth and Jake Neher talk about how a deal on K-12 spending might affect the governor’s ability to get things done going forward.
Lawmakers have struck a deal to fund K-12 schools when the new fiscal year starts in October.
House Democrats negotiated the deal with the Republican majority. But they did so without Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at the table.
As part of the weekly series MichMash, Cheyna Roth and Jake Neher talk about how that might affect the governor’s ability to get things done going forward.
Click on the audio player above to hear that conversation.
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From Michigan Public Radio’s Rick Pluta:
The Legislature has sent a K-12 schools budget to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The bill was adopted with the support of Republicans and Democrats. But the budget has a lot less money then what the governor’s’ recommended for special education and at-risk students.
“While the school aid budget passed by the Legislature includes some additional funding, it is still nowhere near what the governor proposed in her executive budget, and far short of what our children deserve,” the governor’s press secretary, Tiffany Brown, said in a statement.
After the vote, House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R-Levering) said it was time to adopt this budget and move on:
“I’ve been saying since day one that we cannot be like Washington here in this town, and what we just did is a bipartisan product to give our schools the budget that they deserve. We need to keep working with anyone and everyone that’s willing to negotiate with us.”
Governor Whitmer, a Democrat, can use her authority to veto line items in the K-through-12 budget. But Republican leaders are betting she won’t. That’s because the state’s new fiscal year begins on October 1st. GOP leaders say the rest of the budget will be delivered to the governor’s desk next week.
“We’ve got to run government,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake).
GOP leaders say they will deliver the rest of the budget to Whitmer’s desk next week, even though negotiations have stalled.
