ICYMI: House GOP passes budget proposing 25% cut to schools

Within minutes of being unveiled last week, House Republicans passed a budget proposal that would cut $5 billion from public education – a loss of almost 25% compared to the current year.

According to House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp), the bill is meant to keep essential services going during a potential state government shutdown – but Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) noted that, “We haven’t seen a government shutdown in a long time, and there’s no good reason why he should be predicting one now unless he wants it to happen.”

“This is bad politics. This is bad policy. This is going to hurt our kids,” said state Rep. Regina Weiss, an Oak Park Democrat and former teacher in The Detroit News. “And if this is some kind of negotiating, art-of-the-deal kind of tactic, it is dangerous and we don’t need this **** in Michigan.”

Stay tuned to MEA.org/legislation for further developments on next year’s education budget, including the Senate’s funding proposal.

Legislation Newsroom

Releated

Nessel suing to unfreeze federal education funding

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a lawsuit challenging a recent Trump administration decision to freeze various federal education funding programs previously approved by Congress. On July 1, the U.S. Department of Education failed to send states nearly $6.9 billion in funding nationally due to the funding freeze implemented by the White House.  A […]