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Under the new K-12 budget, districts will get a one percent increase in state per pupil aid. Sanilac County schools will receive a total of $96 per student - $48, plus another $48 as an equity payment to help catch up with wealthier districts.

For Carsonville-Port Sanilac Schools, the additional $62,000 the district will receive for it's 625 students is welcome, but insufficient.

"It doesn't cover what expenses we have as a normal course of doing business on an everyday basis," saidSuperintendent Harold Titus. "Obviously, if someone allocates money that's more than I budgeted, I should have a smiling face... Am I happy? Yes. Am I disappointed it isn't more? Yes. But it is what is and everyone has to suck it up and make do with what you get."

Normal operating increases for CPS exceed the $62,000. The expenditure increases include heating ($12,000), health insurance ($12,000), (electricity ($10,000, bus fuel ($7,000), telephone ($5,000), building insurance ($6,000), repairs and equipment replacement services ($7,000) and teaching and office supplies $3000-$5000.

"If we didn't have declining enrollment in this county, probably $96 would have been sufficient to get by. But when you take $96 (and factor in rising expenses and declining enrollment), you can't," said Titus.

"Fortunately, we have some reserves that will help cover those costs."

"It still comes back to inequities in funding," said Marlette Superintendent Duane Lange. "There are so many districts at the bottom...we're never going to catch up."

Lange is also waiting for the other shoe to drop. When schools get an increase in one area, there's usually a cut somewhere else, he said. "They forget to mention they eliminate..."

Still, "one percent (increase) is better than losing money," Lange said.

Marlette's increase is about $113,000.

"Any increase is a good increase," but the $68,998 Deckerville schools will receive won't offset this year's loss in state aid because of declining enrollment, said Superintendent Alan Broughton.

With 45 fewer students, the district would have lost $324,148 in per student aid, but the one percent increase will soften the blow to around $255,000.

"We just have to become more frugal, because revenue declines and expenses are rising," said Broughton. He added, "it's amazing, it took (lawmakers) four months (to finish the budget), and they come up with one percent. (But) it's done, we'll adjust or budgets accordingly."

The new budget will give Croswell-Lexington Schools an additional $228,000 based on a student count of 2,376, said Assistant Superintendent Jackie Huepenbecker.

Then she started subtracting.

Thirty-one of those students attend the PEAK program, which costs the district $150,000 to contract for teachers through the intermediate school district. And Cros-Lex will lose $23,000 in state aid because it is no longer categorized as a district with declining enrollment.

The approximately $55,000 that's left "doesn't pay for increased costs for salary increases, insurance increases, fuel increases," she said, but "at least they (state lawmakers) gave us something. It could be a lot worse. I hope they don't do anything in January. There have been other years when they took money back from the schools in January."