A bill in front of Gov. Rick Snyder would require the state to find out how much it costs to educate a student in Michigan.
The legislation would require the state to find a qualified vendor to conduct the study. It would have to be completed within a year. At that point the findings would be presented to the governor and the Legislature.
State Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, says the study would give lawmakers a much better idea of how to best spend money on schools.
“Right now we’re just guessing, and that’s not a way to run a school system,” said Dillon.
“There’s a lot of support for the concept, and especially with the governor being a CPA and talking about making decisions based on data - we should let the data drive the decisions on school funding, not just doing it because this is how we’ve always done it.”
The bill passed in order to win democratic support for a proposal to boost state road funding.
