By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-881998.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Some Democratic lawmakers in Lansing say the state's highest-spending school districts could soon be forgotten in budget negotiations.
AUDIO:
Extra funds for the state's highest-spending school districts were cut from the budget last year. These are districts that chose to tax themselves for more school funding before Proposal A eliminated their ability to do so. The so-called 20-J fund was created to lessen the blow to those districts.
But with that funding now stricken from the budget, state Senator Mickey Switalski says it's only a matter of time before lawmakers are okay with never restoring the money.
"Oh I think it's rapidly receding in people's memory."
Switalski sits would like to allow the 20-J districts to decide whether to tax themselves again for two years to ease into the permanent cuts. He says some GOP lawmakers think that money will eventually come back, but Switalski says it won't.