Spending Too Much Doesn't Equal a Shortfall

School funding issues continue to dominate discussion in Michigan as 2010 gets underway.

An Op-Ed by Lorie Shane, managing editor of Michigan Education Report, ran in Friday's Dearborn Times-Herald. The piece contains several questions that taxpayers should ask local school boards when officials try to claim school funding is inadequate.

An editorial in Sunday's Livingston Daily Press & Argus states that tax hikes are not the solution to school funding issues and cites the Center regarding increased school revenues. Michael Van Beek, director of education policy, addresses that further in this commentary.

The Detroit Free Press reported on calls from a W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research economist for year-round classes for early elementary school students, universal pre-kindergarten classes for 4-year-olds and more state spending on jobs training programs. Michael LaFaive, director of the Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told the Free Press, "The ... ideas read like a PR campaign for more government intervention in the lives and livelihoods of Michigan citizens."

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