Whitmer signs $22.2B budget for Michigan K-12 schools, colleges and universities

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited a Flint community college Thursday to sign a budget bill that provides record combined funding for K-12 schools, community colleges and universities.

However, a large chunk of the funding is considered "one-time" money arising from federal coronavirus relief payments to the state and a short-term state budget surplus.

Senate Bill 845 appropriates $22.2 billion for Michigan education, with $19.6 billion going to K-12 schools, just over $2 billion to universities and $530.3 million to community colleges, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

That is up 15.6% from the $19.2 billion in approved education spending for the current fiscal year, including supplemental appropriations.

“The budget makes the highest state per-student investment in Michigan history to help schools buy new textbooks, offer more personalized instruction," and make other improvements, including upgrades to school infrastructure, Whitmer said in a news release.

"It also bolsters resources for special education, at-risk funding, and career and technical education while expanding slots in free after-school and preschool programs."

Whitmer, a Democrat who is seeking a second four-year term in November, signed the budget at Mott Community College's Regional Tech Center in Flint.

The $19.6 billion in K-12 spending is up $2.6 billion, or 15.5%, from the nearly $17 billion appropriated this year. It represents a 34.4% increase from the nearly $14.6 billion appropriated five years earlier, in the 2018 fiscal year.

For K-12, all school districts will receive a basic per-student foundation allowance of $9,150, up 5.2% from the $8,700 per-pupil grant districts received this year and up 20.8% from the minimum per-pupil allowance school districts received five years earlier, in 2018.

All public schools will receive the full foundation grant, even cyber charter schools that offer only online classes. Whitmer wanted to hold the cyber school funding at $8,700, but agreed to the higher amount during negotiations to reach a budget consensus with the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The $530.3 million that community colleges are to receive from the state in the 2023 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 represents a 22.9% increase from the $431.4 million appropriated this year. But the overall increase for college operations is much smaller, at 3.8%, and ranges from 2.6% to 5.8%, depending on the college.

Whitmer had called for a 10% increase in operations grants, but lawmakers in the House and Senate favored a smaller number.

In new funding for community colleges, the budget includes $56 million to allow nurses with an associate degree in nursing or a similar degree to pursue Bachelor of Science degrees on community college campuses.

Democrats and Republicans have both hailed the budget agreement reached at the end of June.

“This is a historic budget for a historic time,” said Sen. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, in a news release. “Too many students and workers in our state have suffered over the past two years and our budget makes significant investments to both help students achieve academically and workers obtain new skills for new jobs."

Funding for universities is up 11.9% from the $1.8 billion they received this year. They are receiving a 3.7% increase for university operations under the budget agreement, with increases ranging from 0% to 12.5%. Again, Whitmer had called for a 10% increase.

The university budget includes $250 million for a new postsecondary scholarship program. Details for that program are pending.

More: Whitmer, lawmakers agree to $76 billion budget deal — but not tax cuts yet

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The K-12 budget includes $2.5 billion in federal funds. Much of that is one-time money, related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and much of the planned spending is considered one-time, as well.

The budget allocates $3 billion to strengthen the Michigan Public School Retirement System, up from $1.8 billion this year.

It calls for $168 million in school safety grants — up from $10 million this year — which would be awarded to both public and private schools on a per-pupil basis, according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis. The funding, which follows a mass shooting at Oxford High School that killed four students and wounded six other students and a teacher — can be used for coordination with law enforcement, training on threat assessment and threat response, crisis communication, responsible gun ownership, safety infrastructure, and professional development for school resource officers, among other purposes. Separately, the budget provides an additional $25 million for school resource officers, with the state money to be matched by school districts.

In other new funding, the budget provides $150 million in per-pupil grants to school districts for activities to improve mental health, including the hiring of support staff, and $50 million in federal funding for intermediate school districts to implement a TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) program to improve mental health services.

The budget includes $747.5 million for students considered "at risk" because they are economically disadvantaged. That is up from $524.5 million this year.

Many school districts have been struggling with teacher recruitment. The budget includes $25 million to offset tuition costs of up to $10,000 each for students earning their initial teacher certification to teach at public or private schools. It also funds $9,600-per-semester stipends for student teachers, and "grow-your-own" programs that help districts put support staff on no-cost paths to becoming educators, Whitmer said.

Whitmer is expected to sign the general government bill, which funds other state departments and agencies, next week.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer signs $22.2B budget for K-12 schools and higher education