School Aid Bill Facing Cuts In House Panel

LANSING-A mammoth state school aid bill has been reported out favorably by the House Education Committee, but now faces drastic slashes in the Appropriations Committee. The bill, which funds state aid for the kindergarten through 12 grades, now totals about $1.16 billion -- at least $50 million over the version passed by the Senate and perhaps as much as $63 million more, according to one analyst. Most of the Education Committee members admitted openly during sessions that they didn't expect many of their additions to remain intact and that "we'll leave the trimming work to the Appropriations Committee." One of the changes made in the bill Wednesday was to add $5 more to the per-pupil allotments for the poorer school districts, giving them a gross of $712 a child, compared with $644 each in the districts with higher property tax bases. Another amendment made by the committee will in effect raise the net state aid in districts where the unemployment rate is 50 per cent more than of the national jobless rate now about 6 per cent. The committee also retained a more expensive "grandfather clause" than originally approved in the Senate to guarantee that most school districts would get at least the same state aid as they were scheduled to get this school year. About 40 of the some 140 districts now receiving "grandfather" funds will be dropped from that list,, though, because their property tax valuation has increased sufficiently. Among the districts which would no longer get the grandfather money, as the bill now stands, are Carmen, Kalamazoo, Comstock, Godwin Heights, Northview, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester and Saline. Included among districts which still would get the extra aid are Essexville, Buena Vista, Frankenmuth and Ann Arbor.