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Rep. Roth: Budget plans provide record funding for students, sustain essential services
RELEASE|June 25, 2021
Contact: John Roth

State Rep. John Roth and the Michigan House have approved a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year with record-high investments in K-12 students and stable funding for government services.

The House’s school aid plan ensures equitable per-student foundation funding across Michigan while providing a record-high $16.7 billion for the school aid fund. This total is up nearly 8 percent overall from the current year, which allows for the closing of the per-student foundation funding gap – a goal of the Legislature since the mid-1990s.

All districts would get $8,700 per student in the foundation allowance, which for most districts equates to a 7-percent increase. All districts would get at least 2 percent more.

“Giving our children the resources they need to succeed is essential to investing in our future generations,” said Roth, of Traverse City. “I’m excited for what this funding is going to provide for the greater Traverse City area and the state as a whole – and I look forward to it reaching the governor’s desk. This impacts every child and every family.”

The plan addresses K-12 funding. The budget for community colleges and universities will be addressed in a future measure.

Features of the plan approved Thursday night include:

  • Federal COVID relief funding with equalization payments to ensure every school gets at least $1,093 in additional funding per student. More than $4 billion in federal COVID relief for schools was approved overall today, in addition to the money in the regular school aid fund for next fiscal year.
  • The Great Start Readiness Program receiving an additional investment of $168 million to significantly increase the amount of funding per child while also adding thousands of new opening statewide.
  • More resources invested in special education, career and tech equipment, and many other initiatives to help give every student a better chance to thrive. A one-time $560 million investment into the school retirement system will help ensure promised benefits get paid while freeing up money for the classroom in future years.

The state’s general fund will be roughly the same size as in the current budget year with adjustments mainly to reflect caseload changes and other economic factors – enabling strong support for public health, public safety and other critical initiatives. A 2-percent increase in statutory revenue sharing will help local governments maintain essential services.

Additional resources will be made available for foster care, direct care workers, dam safety and many other important functions.

The legislation now advances to the Senate for further consideration.

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