K-12 Alliance Responds to House & Senate Education Budgets: There’s One Clear Path Forward

The K-12 Alliance of Michigan released the following statement from Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance, in response to the Senate and House budgets announced today. 

“We appreciate that both the Senate and House have put budgets on the table today. It’s a critically important step in the process in committing to getting the final budgets done before the July 1 deadline, something no lawmaker should even consider an option again after the complete failure of the process last year that forced schools across Michigan to reopen without any budget certainty at all.

It’s clear, based on our reviews, that the budget introduced by the Senate is more carefully thought through and based on research from across the country that addresses the major concerns we’ve had coming into the process this year. It is the most straightforward path to getting a final budget done as quickly as possible and should be the sole focus of negotiations going forward.

Significantly, the Senate budget and the Governor’s recommendation would create true weighted formulas in the Michigan school aid budget for the first time, providing real budget certainty and sustainability to schools that desperately need it to make longer-term plans for their districts rather than being forced into year-to-year decision making.

That the House failed to take this step forward in their budget, when there is unanimous agreement among education and business leaders that this is the necessary path forward for school funding in Michigan, is disappointing. 

We appreciate Senator Camilleri and Senator Anthony’s work on this budget. What it shows is that they’ve listened to educators, not only in content, but in process. That they’ve made needed changes to language from last year’s budget that prevented 75% of schools from being able to access critically important school safety money shows that this process works better when done collaboratively. 

The Senate has made it clear that there is no reason this process cannot get done far in advance of the July 1 deadline this year. The budget they’ve presented is a real path forward and we look forward to working with them, and their colleagues in the House, to ensure we have a final budget signed into law as quickly as possible.

Our students deserve nothing less.”

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The K-12 Alliance of Michigan is a coalition of education leaders committed to fighting for strong K-12 schools across Michigan. Comprised of Superintendents from every district in Genesee, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne counties, they are collectively responsible for educating over half of Michigan’s students.