Countering historic price range proposals from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the State House and Senate have begun legislative exercise on their very own training funding proposals for the 2022-23 faculty yr.
NOTE: Remember these all stay proposals right now. Following the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference on May 20, negotiations are anticipated to resolve variations in the budgets. Final motion on the price range is anticipated by the Legislature’s summer season break.
PK-12 School Aid Budget
This week, the House Appropriations Committee despatched HB 5795, the School Aid Budget, to the House flooring, whereas the Senate Appropriations Committee forwarded their model of the price range to the ground SB 832. Floor motion in each chambers is anticipated subsequent week.
In the start of February, Governor Whitmer really helpful a $18.4 billion plan for PK-12 colleges for the approaching yr. It began with a $435 improve to the college basis allowance that will deliver the per-student funding to $9,135.
The Governor’s suggestions prioritized Michigan college students with the help and assets to assist them thrive in an academic atmosphere. It allotted funds for use for the well being and wellbeing of scholars and in addition proposed investments that concentrate on staffing shortages with a deal with educator recruitment and retention.
In distinction, the Senate School Aid Budget calls for nearly $17.0 billion in complete spending for the School Aid Budget, with a $450 improve in the inspiration allowance bringing it to $9,150 per pupil.
The Senate stripped lots of the Governor’s new investments for training. With a considerable amount of extra cash in the School Aid Fund, the Senate didn’t direct any of that cash to something instantly serving to the Okay-12 system. Instead, practically a billion {dollars} of additional School Aid Funds went to fund the Community College and Universities budgets, lowering the quantity these budgets depend on the State’s General Fund.
The House desires $19.9 billion for the School Aid Budget, nonetheless, they solely need to improve the inspiration allowance by $300, to deliver the per pupil allowance to $9,000.
The focus of the House was placing an additional $2.9 billion of state and federal COVID cash into financial savings and paying down long-term debt versus spending the excess on new initiatives because the Governor steered. As a part of this, Michigan’s public faculty worker retirement fund would obtain $1.7 billion.
Outside of paying down debt in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) — which is round 60% funded, however nonetheless has $33.7 billion in unfunded legal responsibility, the House positioned $674 million right into a School Aid Stabilization Fund and a further $425 million right into a MPSERS retirement reserve fund.
The House added a brand new part, Learning Pods, which supplies $56.2 million for ISDs to manage a studying pods pilot program. This awards as much as 2 tokens of $500 every to oldsters of college students, who then might spend tokens, like a voucher, on companies offering summer season training for summer season 2023.
The House wrote into the price range a provision banning transgender athletes from competing, with the supply requiring faculty districts and intermediate faculty districts to ban what the measure refers to as “boys” from competing on women’ or ladies’s groups. Proposed price range language additionally would require districts to create a disciplinary coverage for college officers or workers who make abortion referrals.
Here is a comparability of a number of the different proposed funding:
Educator Recruitment and Retention
The Governor proposed a $2.3 billion recruitment and retention effort for Okay-12 lecturers and different workers members. Starting in the autumn, all full-time Okay-12 public staff would get a retention bonus, $2,000 this yr, and a further $2,000 in 2023. Additionally, lecturers and different licensed workers (reminiscent of counselors, social employees, and nurses) would qualify for $3,000 in 2024 and $4,000 in 2025.
Further, there could be a $100 million allocation for a $10,000-a-year scholarship for future educators and educators in graduate packages. The price range proposal additionally consists of $150 million for stipends for scholar lecturers and one other $150 million for “grow your own” packages for districts to recruit and prepare potential educators from the ranks of paraprofessionals and different help workers.
Also included in the Governor’s proposal is $50.0 million for packages to supply teaching and cohort help to new lecturers by at the least the primary 3 years of a trainer’s service, in addition to grants for mentor stipends and different bills crucial for mentoring. Additionally, there could be a $75 million for regional “innovative approaches” to handle native training retention calls for and for packages that assist and mentor new educators.
The Senate solely included $25.0 million for the MI Student Teacher Scholarship Program and $5.0 million for bus driver recruitment, coaching, and retention.
The House offered $66.0 million to establishments of upper training for a Future Educator Scholarship program for eligible college students in educator preparation packages. It caps scholarships on the lesser of $4,125 per semester or the price of tuition and charges.
The House additionally supplies $214.0 million to districts and ISDs for Grow Your Own packages designed to allow staff and college students to change into lecturers. Districts and ISDs would even be compensated $150.0 million for scholar lecturers. This funding can be utilized for wages, daycare, healthcare, housing, or every other price related to scholar educating. It is capped at $23,000 for scholar lecturers in choose cities and $16,000 for scholar lecturers in all different cities. Lastly, it grants $50.0 million to districts for the aim of implementing Troops to Teachers, a six-month mentorship coaching program for veterans.
Mental Health
The Governor included a number of new packages and elevated funding to others to handle scholar psychological well being wants. Funding of $150.0 million was included to broaden the TRAILS program statewide and $25.0 million to assist districts buy psychological well being screening instruments. This funding additionally offers school-based personnel entry to skilled improvement and same-day consultations through telehealth with behavioral well being clinicians, to assist them reply to complicated scholar psychological well being wants. Also included was $50.0 million for ISDs to rent psychological well being professionals and $11.0 million to open an estimated 40 school-based well being clinics.
The Senate included $10.0 million to broaden TRAILS and added $15.0 million to open extra school-based well being clinics. $15.0 million for the scholar psychological well being apprenticeship retention and coaching (SMART) internship grant program was additionally offered. The House didn’t embrace funding for any of those packages.
Increased Staffing for Student Support
The Governor included $120.0 million, one-time funding for districts and ISDs to extend the variety of faculty psychologists, social employees, counselors, and nurses. This part offered $240.0 million one-time for districts in the present FY 2021-22 price range. For workers employed beneath this part, it supplies 100% of funding for the primary yr, 66% for the second yr, and 33% for the third yr. Even extra, it requires a recipient district or ISD to totally fund workers after three years of funding.
The Senate and the House didn’t embrace funding for this.
Special Education
The Governor elevated funding for particular training by $150.0 million. The Senate didn’t embrace any will increase. The House elevated funding by $210.0 million.
At-Risk
The Governor elevated At-Risk Funding by $222.0 million. Neither the Senate nor the House included any will increase for At-Risk.
Isolated District Funding
The Governor has a rise of $421,000 in the allocations for small, remoted districts: districts which might be better than 250 sq. miles and which have fewer than 10.0 pupils per sq. mile. The Senate doesn’t have this improve. The House did concur with the Governor.
Rural Transportation (NEW)
The House offered $50.0 million for transportation prices for rural districts by the next system: $250 per pupil for districts with fewer than 10 pupils per sq. mile, $200 per pupil for districts with at the least 10 however fewer than 15 pupils per sq. mile, and $150 per pupil for districts with at the least 15 however fewer than 20 pupils per sq. mile.
Before- and After-School Programs
Also included by the Governor was new funding of $50 million for earlier than and after faculty packages. The Senate didn’t embrace this, however the House did.
School Infrastructure
Though the Governor wished $171.0 million for a faculty infrastructure, the Senate and House didn’t embrace this funding.
Adolescent Health Services
The Governor has a rise of $11.0 million for adolescent well being care companies. The Senate had no improve and the House elevated it by $14.3 million.
ISD Mental Health and Support Services
The Governor wished a rise of $50.0 million to ISDs for psychological well being and help companies for common training pupils. The Senate and the House didn’t embrace this improve.
Student Safety
The Governor elevated funding for college security grants by $51.0 million. The Senate maintained the present $10.0 million funding for college security grants. The House has a $227.5 million improve and provides firearms detection software program as an allowable use of funding.
Teach for America
The Governor eradicated $1.0 million for Teach for America, which hosts a summer season coaching institute in Detroit to recruit lecturers right into a grasp trainer fellowship. The Senate stored the $1.0 million funding. The House elevated funding to $20.0 million.
Oxford Response
The Governor wished $6.0 million for a district pressured to shut a constructing for at the least 20 consecutive days in response to an act of scholar violence, in any other case that means Oxford Community Schools. Funds could also be used for personnel and extra scholar helps.
The Senate didn’t fund this. The House offered $6.8 million to the district as follows: $3.5 million over two fiscal years for a psychologist, household faculty liaison, psychological well being director, faculty useful resource officer, security and safety assessments, public relations consulting, non-public safety, summer season faculty, insurance coverage copays, and authorized companies. The House additionally included $2.3 million for one-time prices, together with bodily repairs, a third-party evaluate, a mass notification system, and safety cameras. They additionally offered $1.0 million with no specified necessities.
The Governor waived the 75% attendance requirement beneath Sec. 101(3)(d) for Oxford Community Schools and counted the times/hours the district closed in response to an act of violence as pupil instruction beneath Sec. 101. The Senate and the House didn’t embrace this.
The Governor additionally wished outcomes from summative assessments administered in the course of the 2021-22 faculty yr to be not used for retention choices or educator evaluations for the district. The Senate didn’t embrace this. The House did embrace this.
Separate from the price range, the Senate unanimously handed SB 940 & 941 to handle present yr wants for Oxford – these payments are awaiting motion in the State House.
University and Community College Budgets
In February, the Governor proposed a 5% improve for universities’ and group schools’ ongoing operations, plus a further 5% in one-time operation funds.
The Governor additionally continued her dedication to varsity affordability, by together with $55 million for Michigan Reconnect. Further, she elevated the Michigan Competitive Award from $1,000 to $1,200 and the Tuition Grant Award from $2,800 to $2,900.
Last week, the Senate started their larger training and group school price range course of by passing SB 842 and SB 843 out of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education. They included a 3.0% one-time efficiency funding improve and a 3.0% ongoing operations improve, each utilizing a brand new system and cash appropriated from the School Aid Fund. The Senate’s new system has three parts, equally weighted: a FY 2020-21 scholar headcount, FY 2020-21 all levels conferred, and an across-the-board quantity.
The Senate elevated the Michigan Competitive Award from $1,000 to $1,500 and elevated the Tuition Grant Award from $2,800 to $3,000. They additionally added $361 million for a brand new scholarship grant program that would supply 2022 Michigan highschool graduates with a grant of as much as $3,000 per yr for college kids in group schools or tribal schools and as much as $6,000 per yr for college kids in public universities or impartial schools.
In addition, the Senate included $581.2 million in School Aid Fund {dollars} to repay the excellent unfunded actuarial accrued retirement liabilities of the seven universities which might be members of the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. Those universities are Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, and Western Michigan.
The Senate additionally included $131,300 for every college, for a complete of $1,969,500, to develop a scholar retention program. They additionally included $33,300 for every college, for a complete of $499,500 which may be used to determine a pregnant and parenting scholar companies program. This was a Michigan Right Life precedence.
Recently, the House handed out their really helpful budgets for universities, HB 5785, and group schools, HB 5779.
The House really helpful a rise of three.2% for universities’ operations. Besides the conventional funding of MPSERS, there’s a one-time extra cost of $200 million to MPSERS.
For group schools, the House included a 6.8% improve for operational funding. The House additionally agreed with the Governor’s advice of a $55 million funding in Reconnect Michigan
They additionally added $10.0 million from the Federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund for the creation of the Community College Academic Catch-up program, which might be administered by the Michigan Community College Association. Community schools would apply for grant funding to help varied summer season instructional packages for college kids getting into school for the 2022-23 educational yr.
Finally, the House added $500,000 from the School Aid Fund for pregnant and parenting scholar companies.
MEA will proceed analyzing and monitoring the price range state of affairs and offering updates as they’re out there. With any appropriations questions, please contact Andy Neumann, MEA lobbyist, at aneumann@mea.org.