December 9, 2011
LANSING ? On a unanimous, bi-partisan basis, the State Board of Education this week approved its education priorities for Governor Rick Snyder and Legislature to consider as they formulate next year's budget, recommending "a significant portion on any budget surplus be invested in pre-K, K-12 and higher education."
"We have got to support the reforms Michigan has made in setting high performance expectations for students and teachers, with the resources needed to deliver quality teaching, and student achievement," State Board President John Austin said, in passing the budget recommendations.
Specifically, the State Board recommended any budget surplus be invested to
- reward schools that demonstrate progress on student growth and achievement;
- support teacher quality, and master teacher programs called for by the State Board and Governor Snyder;
- expand "Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace" learning programs including middle colleges, dual enrollment, and Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs;
- reward schools and districts that have found cost savings in non-instructional services through school consolidation and shared services;
- support ongoing training for teachers and administrators to prepare them for implementation of more rigorous Career- and College-Ready Common Core Standards and the accompanying assessments being developed through the Smarter/Balanced Assessment Consortium of which Michigan is a governing member; and
- help districts pay legacy pension costs to realize the benefits of the true increase in the foundation grant.
The Board also unanimously approved a process to take a fresh look at Michigan education funding needs during 2012 in order to inform future year budget recommendations. A full copy of the Board's action can be found at: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/sbe_budget_rec_370865_7.pdf.
|
Printer Friendly
Text Version
Twitter
Facebook
Yahoo
Google
Digg
Newsvine
StumbleUpon
Bookmark
Email Page
