LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – One of the Michigan Department of Education’s listed goals to improve the state of education is to, “Provide adequate and equitable school funding.”

However, Michigan State University’s Capital News Service reported about a study conducted by Harvard University and Stanford University on academic performance during the pandemic. It showed that money didn’t solve the state’s lagging academic performance during COVID.

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“They found that where children lived during the pandemic mattered more to their academic progress than their family background, income or internet speed,” the MSU news service reported.

“For example, in comparing Grand Rapids Public Schools with Forest Hills Public Schools in a nearby suburb, they discovered that Grand Rapids students had lost over two thirds of a year of instruction in math, and almost four-fifths of a year in reading, according to the Harvard and Stanford study. That is the equivalent of losing four months of instruction in math and almost seven months of instruction in reading. In contrast, Forest Hills students lost virtually nothing, the study said. In that district, they continued learning at the same pace as before the pandemic due in large part to community-wide advantages, including better access to broadband and fewer economic disruptions such as unemployment rates.”

Forest Hills Public Schools did far better than Grand Rapids. However, Forest Hills received $1,560 per pupil in federal COVID money compared to Grand Rapids’ $7,745 per pupil, according to data provided by the Michigan Education Association.

In terms of overall General Fund revenues, Grand Rapids received $19,153 per pupil compared to Forest Hills’ $14,797 per pupil, a 29.4% advantage for Grand Rapids.