ESCANABA — Patience is wearing thin for the majority of superintendents in local school districts that are tired of playing a guessing game with their budgets. All eyes will be on the clock Monday night to see if Governor Gretchen Whitmer passes the proposed state budget as promised before the Oct. 1 deadline.

Normally the state budget is approved before school districts have to submit their own budgets to the state. Some superintendents are nervous and frustrated because until a budget is signed, they do not know how much to budget for each student in the 2019-2020 school year.

“It is very unfortunate that our state has not been able to approve a budget. Unlike other state budgets, schools open their doors in August and have bills to pay, employees to pay, and programs to run,” said Bark River-Harris Superintendent Jason Lockwood. “Without having a budget in place, schools are left making educated guesses. Schools across the state have had to make difficult decisions that impact families based upon best guesses and that is no way to run a school.”

Whitmer has the latest state budget proposal on her desk. There is still time for it to be signed, but if it isn’t, the state will go into a partial government shutdown starting Tuesday.

Whitmer has said the shutdown won’t happen.

“The Governor will be exercising the powers that she can to get our budget into the best possible shape with what has been presented,” department directors wrote in emails notifying 48,000 state employees that there will be no temporary layoffs starting Tuesday. “Thank you for your continued patience and understanding during what has been a very uncertain process.”

However, the lack of a solid state budget has already delayed budget planning for school districts across the state.

“I feel the state should be mandated to have a school budget in place by July 1 annually, just like schools are required to have,” said Mid Peninsula School District Superintendent Eric VanDamme. “We can make informed guesses in June, but when they wait this long, it negatively impacts our ability to staff our schools accordingly.”

It’s been a waiting game for school districts, which have done their best to budget conservatively and are eager to see the final state budget.

“While the education budget before the governor isn’t perfect, the political process sometimes involves compromise. The current proposal is a step in the right direction, and I hope it will be signed before the deadline,” said Escanaba Superintendent Coby Fletcher. “But whatever the outcome, our focus will stay right where it should be, on kids.”