After months of negotiations in a split Michigan legislature, lawmakers have passed a $21.3 billion school aid budget for the 2025-2026 school year.
School aid budgets, which fund public education and programs such as free school meals and special education, are typically signed into law in June or July. However, with the Republican-led House and Democrat-led Senate presenting vastly different plans on how to support schools and higher education, Michigan lawmakers took until October 3 to iron out the final details. These delays affected many school districts’ planning decisions, namely hiring new staff and continuing certain programs.
Working into the early morning hours, lawmakers delivered on key promises to preserve free school meals and increase per-pupil funding. Included in the budget is a record $10,050 in per-pupil funding—funding that may translate to smaller class sizes and more individualized support, depending on how districts decide to spend it. Along with increased per-student funding, the budget has also increased funding for at-risk students, those from lower-income households, by 25%, which Michigan Education Association Director of Communications and Public Engagement Doug Pratt describes as “major.”
“We know that poverty can be a big factor in student success, so ensuring educators have the resources to reach and teach kids who need extra support is encouraging, no matter where in the state you live,” said Pratt.
These increases in funding did not come without compromises, however. Several programs, including mental health and school safety grants as well as career and technical education incentives, have been moved from ongoing to one-time funding.
“Some programs that I wanted to include were instead ‘rolled up’ into the general foundation allowance in the school aid budget,” said Senate PreK-12 appropriations Subcommittee Chair Darrin Camilleri. “We also had to accept the Republican proposal to divert school aid money to higher education, which freed up a few hundred million dollars of general fund money to help pay for roads.”
For Bloomfield Hills Schools, the increase in per-student funding comes at a time of decreasing enrollment. Since 2019, the district has experienced a decline in enrollment, creating a structural deficit.
“The funding we receive is based on pupil count. The value of the per-pupil increase is mitigated by continued decreases in enrollment, meaning we are funded for fewer students than we were in the past,” said Bloomfield Hills Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Kandice Moynihan.
The Bloomfield Hills community will see, though, the continuation of the Michigan School Meals program, which provides free breakfast and lunches for all students, as well as the lifting of income thresholds for the Great Start Readiness Program, Michigan’s free preschool program, making it more accessible to all four-year-olds.
Education advocates believe this year’s budget is about comparing it to what might have been. Original budget proposals from the State House could have made huge cuts to important programs, but in the end, most of those cuts weren’t included. Still, many are hesitant to call this year’s school aid budget a success, citing the timing of the budget in addition to the fact that students and schools are still underfunded, especially compared to the early 2010s.
In Lansing, Michigan’s split government is sure to come across the topic of education in the future.
“Education shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Pratt said. “From educators to families to business owners and beyond, we all want Michigan students to have bright futures in school and then in the workplace. And educators need the tools to make that happen. Lawmakers should use that common ground to make decisions going forward.”
