LANSING – Governor Rick Snyder and top legislative leaders have not yet reached a formal target agreement on the education aspects of the budget, but they are getting close, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville said Wednesday morning.

Richardville (R-Monroe) said he, House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), Governor Rick Snyder, Lt. Governor Brian Calley and the Appropriations committee chairs “hammered out some ideas” Tuesday and closed with the agreement to have everything that was discussed written down to be sure everyone was clear on what the potential agreement constituted and reviewed again.

“To say we have an agreement would probably be a little premature,” he said. “To say we have an understanding on how we get to agreement, that’s what we’re doing.”

Richardville said tentatively officials plan to cut K-12 schools by $100 per pupil. Snyder had originally proposed a $300 per pupil cut. The tentative plan would restore $100 directly to school districts’ foundation grants and $100 to those districts meeting certain financial best practices, he said.

The higher education budget would keep the 15 percent cut recommended by Snyder, but it would not include the stem cell research reporting language included by the Senate and House, nor the 5 percent penalty to those universities that provide domestic partner benefits that the House passed.

Community colleges would be cut by 4 percent. Snyder had recommended no cut, the Senate had cut 3 percent and the House 15 percent.

Officials have not yet determined how much money from the School Aid Fund will be used to fund the colleges and universities, Richardville said. And before any of what the leaders and governor have worked through becomes final, Bolger and Richardville need to brief their caucuses to ensure it has support, he said.

Also, the Legislative Quadrant will meet late this afternoon to go over the direction officials are moving toward setting and brief Democratic leaders. And then there’s setting targets for all the departments and major budget areas that primarily rely on the general fund.

“We probably won’t have what I would consider to be a finalized plan until late today, early tomorrow,” Richardville said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Gongwer News Service will have more on this story in today’s Michigan Report.

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