LANSING – A new report highlights the deep cuts Michigan has made to education since the recession, the Michigan League for Human Services said on Tuesday, and the cuts are deeper than 28 other states.
The report, released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan policy research organization in Washington, found that investment in K-12 is 8.8 percent lower than it was in 2008 in the state.
“Our ability to educate Michigan’s children has been undermined by these cuts and there will be consequences for our economy,” Gilda Jacobs, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services said in a statement. “We need good schools and an educated workforce to foster economic growth, and we are shooting ourselves in the foot by reducing our investment in education.”
According to the league, rather than looking at additional revenues, state government instead cut education funding and state services heavily, as state revenue slowed during the recession.
It also pointed to the federal government ending its emergency financial aid to states and school districts and the loss of stimulus dollars after fiscal year 2011.
State cuts to education have prolonged the recession by eliminating public and private sector jobs, the league said in its release, as teachers and other school employees have been laid off and contracts with private education-related firms have been cancelled.
It also notes the long term effect of cutting education by reducing the ability of the state to produce the educated workforce that businesses need.
“Across much of the country, kids are going back to school to find more crowded classrooms, and – in some cases – shorter school weeks,” Phil Oliff, author of the report and a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a statement. “That’s no way to develop our future workforce and build a strong economy.”
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