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Detroit school superintendent says school funding still not equitable

Middle School Hallway by kjarrett is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The Michigan Legislature approved a $17.1 billion-dollar school budget last week, one day before the start of school districts' fiscal year.A mix of state and federal aid means a record $87-hundred dollars per pupil. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle hailed the budget as a closing of the funding gap.

Because of how schools are funded, some of the more affluent districts will still get up to $400 dollars additionally per student.

Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Doctor Nikolai Vitti says the funding gap truly won’t be narrowed until the state changes how schools are funded.

“We're certainly excited across the state to see an increase in K-12 per pupil funding, but we're not even close to being equal and we're definitely not addressing inequality.”

Vitti says D.P.S.C.D. won’t actually get any more money this year, since they lost over two thousand students who dropped out or weren’t counted due to the coronavirus pandemic.