Mark Hornbeck AND Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News

Lansing – Michigan lawmakers at long last have passed a school aid budget that slashes per pupil spending by $165 — and while district officials aren’t happy, at least they finally know where they stand.

When Gov. Jennifer Granholm signs the spending bill, as aides say she will, school districts will have the last piece of their financial puzzle in place more than three months after their budget year began.

The school aid cut amounts to 2.3 percent, far less than reductions suffered by other areas of the state budget. A House-Senate conference committee initially approved a $218 per pupil reduction, but legislative leaders found $100 million in revenue. Lawmakers are trying to close a $2.8 billion hole in the 2010 fiscal year budget.

“They say they are going to amputate your arm and they only take off your hand and then you feel better,” said Craig Fiegel, superintendent of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, where they’ll use cash reserves and possibly make mid-year cuts to make up for the loss.

The bill requires districts to offer at least 165 days of instruction in 2010-11 and 170 days in 2011-12. Students now must attend school 1,098 hours a year, but it was up to districts how many days they attended. Districts also must report detailed financial information online.

David Martell, executive director of Michigan School Business Officials, said the feeling among his membership is that “it’s about time something was put in place.”

“The cut is not as low as we’d like it, but in this general economic environment, it could be a lot worse,” he said.

The pain will be felt especially hard in the 90 districts that have don’t have enough money to make up a $165 per-student cut from the state.

One more problem is that extra money for schools depends on the House and Senate passing revenue bills, which is always a risky proposition. “It’s not done yet,” Martell said.

“All options are on the table in terms of how we are going to deal with this loss,” said Hildy Corbett, spokeswoman for Utica Community Schools which has had to reduce its staff by 384 people and its budget by $42 million over seven years.

At Highland Park schools, the district has had to close two schools and a career academy in recent years and laid off workers. The reduction would mean more personnel cuts.

“It’s devastating,” Superintendent Arthur Carter said. “We still want to offer a first-class education to our students but it becomes increasingly difficult.”

Detroit and other districts figured into their budgets a $110 per pupil cut. The extra loss could mean more layoffs at Detroit Public Schools, which shed more than 2,400 employees this year, spokesman Steve Wasko said.

Some districts have posted their monthly check register online, but the legislation calls for schools to include detailed financial records, including expenditure pie charts, compensation breakdowns, lobbying fees, links to labor agreements, health care plans and audits.

“I find it interesting that they take money away from you and then ask you to do more,” Fiegel said.

Added Carter: “It’s more work for us, but in order to gain the support of parents I think we ought to give them the information they need.”

Other cuts in the school aid bill include:

• A 20 percent reduction for intermediate schools, which provide special education, vocational education and other services to local districts. That’s down from the 44 percent cut initially proposed, but it amounts to $16.3 million.

• An $8.9 million cut in early childhood programs.

• A 10 percent, or $3 million cut in vocational education and an 8.3 percent cut, or $2 million in adult education.

• Elimination of $8 million for Granholm’s small high schools program.

With a resolution near for this year, school officials have concerns about next year’s budget, when the amount of federal stimulus money, at $450 million, is cut in half and the economic turnaround likely will not have taken hold.

“Next year, we face the potential of an even bigger hole in the budget — one that cannot be filled with cuts alone,” said Iris Salters, president of the Michigan Education Association.