The headlines tell us the budget crisis in Michigan is over, not true!  The Governor and the legislature have agreed to a "solution" to the budget crisis in the current year.  Their solution - push all the problems into the next fiscal year!

They have moved money, done some creative accounting, postponed payments due this year to next, borrowed against future earnings and in general shoved the deficit from this year into next year.

It appears there will be no cuts to the K12 foundation allowance for this year, but that is because they are postponing payments to community colleges and universities until next year.

The basic problem has not changed - we generate less revenue into the state than we need to support our schools, universities, health care, prisons, and the other services required by our citizens.  We need to realign our tax system to bring in more revenue while supporting job creation.  We need a tax structure that provides for a state budget that is stable, fair and adequate.  We need to keep the pressure on the legislature to fix the state budget for real, not engage in smoke and mirror illusions.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

In order to move Michigan forward, you and the other members of the legislature will need to make some difficult decisions in the near future. The crisis of the current state budget has been averted. But the actions of the legislature have simply pushed a bigger deficit into the next budget year.

We need a budget that invests in our state, and we can not do that with accounting tricks, delayed payments, and borrowing against the future. The structural budget deficit must be addressed with reasonable and fair tax increases, government restructuring, and modest cuts.

In the education field where I work, our students deserve a state budget and tax system that is stable, fair to all sectors, and adequate to meet the needs of our schools, community colleges and universities.

It is time to invest in the future of Michigan.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 29, 2007