LANSING – In advance of her tour of several Michigan campuses this week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is stepping up efforts to generate public support for the Legislature to restore some of the cuts made to the 2009-10 budget, especially restoration of the Michigan Promise Scholarship.

On Monday, Granholm released a YouTube video about the Promise scholarship saying she put it into the budget and the Senate Republicans took it out. “I’m angry about it and I know that you are too,” she says in the 57-second video in which she calls for people to contact their legislators and urge passage of legislation to restore the scholarship.

The emphasis on the Promise scholarship comes a week after Granholm helped lead efforts to raise concerns about cuts to the state’s K-12 education system, which included joining in on a rally of parents, students and teachers.

Granholm also sent a letter to more than 300,000 university students and their parents telling them that no Promise scholarship payments will be made, and urging them to contact senators to act on HB 5403 . That bill would restore funding for the program.

Liz Boyd, Granholm’s spokesperson, said the emphasis on restoring the Promise scholarship is in keeping with her other efforts to restore cuts to education. As she said when she signed the final budget bills at the end of October, Boyd said, the budget is the budget the state has but not the budget the state needs.

Granholm will appear at several campuses this week, including at Michigan State University and Central Michigan University.

She will not be greeted with universal cheers, however, at least at CMU where the Campus Conservative chapter has accused her of using students for political purposes. In a statement, the chapter’s vice president, Evan Agnello, who was receiving the scholarship, said while he certainly could have used it, “the fiscal challenges facing Michigan required tough decisions the right the ship-of-state.”

The group said it will lead a counter-demonstration to Granholm’s appearance on Thursday.

While she is putting a special emphasis on the Promise scholarship, Granholm is continuing her efforts to restore cuts to the K-12 budget. On Sunday her op-ed was published in the Detroit Free Press saying the cuts to education could hurt the state’s economic recovery efforts.

Rectifying those cuts could be helped, she said, with $240 million in tax changes, including a freeze on the increase in the personal exemption in the income tax, a cut to some business tax credits and taxing all tobacco products on an equal basis.

“We must commit Michigan to educational greatness, not mediocrity,” Granholm said.

Matt Marsden, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester), said the governor’s tax proposals could be discussed for the upcoming fiscal year, not for the budget just signed into law.

“Talking about raising taxes for a budget that has been closed and the governor’s already put veto pen to paper on is pointless,” he said. “The cuts that are in place right now are on her tab. She made that decision.”

Marsden reiterated past comments that Granholm should simply rescind her letter ordering a $127 per pupil proration reduction to public schools.

As of Monday, the Senate still planned to convene Wednesday, Marsden said. However, at this stage, no major items are on the agenda, he said.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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