While state education budget is finished, Legislature’s work has just begun
Lawmakers came together last week to pass an education budget that provides needed investments for students and educators. After months of delays and missed deadlines, the budget provides positive improvements for our schools in some areas while falling short in others.
Hopefully, lawmakers can build on this bipartisan solution and move forward to tackle critical classroom issues affecting Michigan students and schools.
The negotiated budget deal for this school year provides a significant per pupil funding increase, protects student mental health and safety, maintains funding for universal school meals, provides extra support for low-income students, and allocates funding to offer additional compensation for educators.
More than $300 million is included in this budget for school safety and student mental health programs. Students of all backgrounds continue to struggle with depression, anxiety and other issues that can significantly impact their learning. This budget will help neighborhood schools support mental health professionals who can work with students and parents to address challenges before they escalate, creating a safer learning environment for every student.
Families and educators welcomed the decision to continue Michigan’s universal free breakfast and lunch program. This support helps students stay nourished and better able to focus on learning throughout the school day.
In addition, the budget allocates 25% more funding for at-risk students to provide additional support to the students that need it most. In rural, suburban and urban schools, this extra funding will help drive student success – and more equitably distribute funding across districts.
Also critical is $203 million in additional compensation for school employees, particularly given current pay increases being consumed by increasing out-of-pocket health insurance costs. Alleviating some financial pressure on educators can help keep talented teachers and school support staff in the profession they love.
The budget contains significant flaws, however. State support for district retirement payments has been reduced, and $400 million in higher education costs have been shifted onto the School Aid Fund to free up General Fund dollars for road projects. This practice forces PreK–12 and higher education to compete for the same limited resources, an approach that undermines both sectors – and fails to provide a sustainable path for preparing students for post-secondary opportunities and long-term economic success.
Addressing Michigan’s outdated school funding structure under Proposal A is long overdue and necessary to prevent these kinds of harmful trade-offs and ensure adequate, equitable and stable funding for the future.
With this agreement in place, state leaders should build on the bipartisan momentum to address other pressing challenges facing Michigan’s schools.
As a first step, lawmakers should pass stalled legislation to limit student cell phone use during instructional time. Any policy should strike a balance between setting consistent statewide expectations and allowing local districts the flexibility to manage enforcement, emergency situations, and appropriate instructional uses of devices.
State leaders must work with frontline educators to address the growing challenges of student mental health and classroom behavior. Developing policies that respond to the needs of students, families, and educators is essential to creating safe, supportive, and effective learning environments across Michigan schools.
Lawmakers should also improve flexibility in the high school Michigan Merit Curriculum and eliminate outdated testing requirements. Our goal must be for every student to have a great public education that prepares them for their best path forward, including both college and career training opportunities.
For the sake of our kids, we urge lawmakers to rise above partisan politics and keep working together on real solutions to the urgent challenges facing Michigan’s public schools. Collaboration, not division, is what students, families, and educators need most right now.
Labor Voices
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, Michigan Education Association President Chandra Madafferi, Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights Executive Secretary-Treasurer Tom Lutz and selected Service Employees International Union members.
