Superintendents tell Lansing late budget, shifting grant rules hamper classroom services

Summary

Superintendents told the House Appropriations Subcommittee that late state budgets, changing competitive-grant rules and duplicated reporting requirements are diverting staff time and delaying curriculum, mental-health hires and transportation purchases; they urged more predictable, formulaic funding and streamlined reporting.

LANSING — Superintendents from rural and urban districts told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and the Department of Education on a recent morning that late state budgets and shifting grant rules are delaying services for students and adding heavy administrative burdens.

Patrick O'Rourke, superintendent of Fowler Public Schools, said transportation funding included in the recent budget “made a huge difference for my district,” then warned that inconsistent grant guidance and late payments have real consequences: “We did qualify for that [35j] funding, but I want to dive back and go through what that entire process looked like,” he said, describing an application released in January, updated guidance in March and a May memo that delayed payments from May 20 to June 20 — forcing districts to postpone purchases and professional development.

The delay compounds staffing constraints in small districts,…

Superintendents tell Lansing late budget, shifting grant rules hamper classroom services

Summary

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