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Debate Begins Over Paying for Mich. Public Schools

Lansing, Mich.

Fifteen years ago, Michigan changed the way it pays for public education, switching from local property taxes to a mix of sales and property taxes, lottery revenue and other money.

Now, with cuts of nearly $300 per student looming and some districts looking at losing as much as $600 per student, think tanks, business groups and education advocates are calling for looking again at the way Michigan pays for public schools.

"The reduction in school revenues is really a product of the economy tanking," says former state Rep. Lynn Jondahl, who was the Democratic House Taxation Committee chairman when Proposal A passed. He's now working with the group, A Better Michigan Future, to get the state's finances on...