Senate Dems want $1B more for Michigan schools, call cuts ‘dangerous’

• Senate lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled their $21.8 billion plan for funding K-12 schools in Michigan, a roughly $1 billion increase from the prior budget year
• Their version of the budget emphasizes money for ‘at-risk’ pupils, lowering class sizes and increasing teacher pay
• One Democratic senator leading the push says there’s no need for funding cuts after House GOP pushed through a $15.6 million spending bill

LANSING — Senate Democrats say they’re hoping to pump an additional $1 billion into Michigan’s public schools this year in an effort to cut class sizes, increase funding to at-risk students and bolster teacher pay.

The effort would put even more money into schools than what Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pitched at the top of the year, her plan totaling about $21.2 billion, and dramatically more than what the Republican-led House has already passed at $15.6 billion. 

State House Speaker Matt Hall said in March that chamber’s scaled back plan isn’t a final figure, but instead an attempt to take a possible government shutdown off the negotiating table while education funding conversations continue. 

But as the House continues to pursue a road funding plan and Democrats try to push for additional education dollars, clear priorities have been set as lawmakers enter into the thick of budgetary negotiations next month.

The Senate’s education budget plan, which became public for the first time Tuesday, would expand Michigan’s School Aid Fund from its current $20.6 billion figure to $21.8 billion, said state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton. 

That increase would include upping the state’s per-pupil allotment by $400, taking it from $9,608 to $10,008, resulting in an estimated $517 million investment statewide. Half of that $400 amount would specifically be earmarked for increasing teacher pay.

Camilleri told reporters Tuesday that, in his capacity as chair of the Senate Appropriations’ subcommittee dealing with pre-K through 12th grade funding, “I will not yield to dangerous and unnecessary funding cuts” — a clear jab at House Republicans.

RELATED: 

• Whitmer’s $84B plan for Michigan schools, housing and more: What to know
• Whitmer pitches education ‘transparency’ plan as Michigan test scores lag
• Fact check: Michigan schools are struggling. Can these ideas help fix them?

As proposed, the Senate plan would additionally set aside:

• $65 million to support smaller class sizes for grades K-3 in some of the state’s most disadvantaged school districts
• $85 million to help schools expand or add on career and technical education programs
• $350 million for mental health and school safety supports
• $350 million for a competitive grant program for improvements to school infrastructure, with a focus on HVAC and roofing repairs

An additional $1.2 billion in the proposed budget would go toward continuing Michigan’s free breakfast and lunch school program, with another $1.3 billion set aside for supporting what the state deems as “at-risk students.”

Absent from the Senate’s proposal, though it was a defining feature of Whitmer’s School Aid plan, are efforts to address Michigan’s falling test scores. Most recently, 31 states scored higher in fourth-grade reading than Michigan, which was tied, statistically, with 18 states, according to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

When unveiling her budget in February, Whitmer pitched what she referred to as the SMART budget plan, standing for “student, metrics and results with transparency.” Among other things, that plan would award districts for increasing parental communication about student outcomes while doubling funding for literacy grants and other investments, like literacy coaches. 

State Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, noted that absence during a subcommittee hearing Tuesday at which lawmakers later voted to advance the school budget to the chamber floor.

“I thought it was actually a good step in the right direction,” Albert said, adding that Whitmer “even realized that we keep spending money and we're not getting good results” in the classroom, as mentioned during her State of the State earlier this year.

Camilleri acknowledged that Whitmer’s proposal  has “a lot of good ideas,” but that the focus of the Democratic Senate’s budget “has been and will continue to be investing in our at-risk line.”

Negotiations surrounding the Senate’s plan will continue ahead of lawmakers’ self-imposed July 1 deadline. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.