Well, a large group from Kent County went to Lansing yesterday for our Advocacy Day. We heard from Pete Ruddell from the Oxford Foundation, from Michigan Senator Roger Kahn, from Mary Ann Cleary from the House Fiscal Agency and from Susan Broman from The Office of Great Start.
A summary of these talks will be forthcoming, but I wanted you to know that the discussion of road maintenance funding is relevant to schools. Senator Kahn reported that polling shows most people in Michigan admit that the roads are terrible but refuse to raise taxes to fund them. What he and his colleagues are proposing is to eliminate the gas tax that brings $900 million to schools and raise the excise tax for road maintenance. With this change, the tax on gas essentially moves from schools to roads. While a tax on gas makes more sense funding schools, the plan to replace the $900 million for schools is through a ballot proposal to raise the sales tax and dedicate that to schools. If this does not pass, however, schools will be out $900 million. Lucy
Governor's proposal
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/snyder_backs_hike_in_gas_tax_r.html
Nobody wants to pay for roads.
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/snyder_tax_increase_roads.html
http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/republican_senate_majority_lea_1.html
