LANSING, MI (AP)-- Michigan schools will see funding increases ranging from $60 to 120 per student next year and continue administering the new M-STEP state standardized test.
A school aid budget approved Tuesday by a legislative conference committee increases the minimum per-pupil funding level to $7,511 and the basic per-pupil funding to $8,229 in the fiscal year starting in October. Overall spending will rise 1.9 percent.
The House has dropped attempts to replace the state's new standardized test, known as the M-STEP, and to end a required assessment of 11th-graders that includes the SAT.
There is $5 million to cover costs associated with the state taking over schools in the bottom 5 percent on student performance, including the hiring of CEOs to handle academics over the objections of Democrats.
The State School Reform/Redesign Office is being more aggressive since Gov. Rick Snyder moved it to a department over which he has control.
