(Source: MIRS.news, Published 5/1/2024) The Senate's $547.6 million spending plan for the Governor's developing “lifelong education” department deploys $75.9 million to raising child care rates for providers, specifically for those in Michigan's child care subsidy program for poor families.
Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee met for nearly two hours, moving the rest of the Senate's various budget proposals to the chamber floor.
Among those recommendations was SB 748 by Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), dealing with the Governor's Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential (MiLEAP). The new department was created by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last July, honing in on child care and preschool learning, as well as post-high school education opportunities.
SB 748 is worth less than the Governor's more than $576.9 million MiLEAP spending proposal, absorbing workforce development and certificate attainment programs from the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and child care programs from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).
The Senate's plan would involve a similar transfer of programs to MiLEAP from LEO and MDE. However, while the Governor wanted to increase rates for providers in Michigan's child care subsidy program by 10 percent, SB 748 would increase them by 20 percent.
The state's Child Development and Care (CDC) subsidy program waives family contribution requirements for households receiving cash payments from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). During Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, TANF recipients in Michigan earned a non-TANF income of $1,058 per month, on average.
For a family earning $2,430 per month when it enters the CDC subsidy program with one child, their per child payment is $15 per two weeks. A family earning $4,542 with three children after it's entered the program must pay $30 per child for the two-week pay period.
The Senate budget also makes undefined placeholders for childcare program stabilization grants, childcare startup grants and an adult education outreach project.
Moreover, SB 748 does not share Whitmer's vision to appropriate $60 million from the General Fund for a three-year child care worker subsidy program, providing state-funded child care benefits to child care providers.
MiLEAP remains under scrutiny by the State Board of Education overseeing the MDE, which is subjected to a more than $483.9 million funding reduction under the Senate's proposal. The Senate's MDE budget recommendations, SB 769 moved Wednesday by a 13-6 party-line vote.
Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) said during Wednesday’s meeting that there's a high probability that the constitutionality of MiLEAP is challenged in a lawsuit. In general, voices have questioned if MiLEAP absorbs too many of MDE's responsibilities, creating a supplemental education department that the Governor would have full authority over, unlike the MDE.
But, on the other hand, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) – the sponsor of the Senate's MiLEAP budget – said she hasn't gotten too involved with "the kind of tit-for-tat" discussion around MiLEAP-versus-MDE.
“I'm assuming that when the Governor's team brought this department forward, that they vetted this through their legal team,” Anthony said about the transfer of programs, "I think everything will fall into place in the end."
Albert asked who would be responsible for covering the legal fees if a lawsuit takes off.
The Senate Fiscal Agency confirmed the Attorney General's office would be responsible for those legal expenses. The Senate's general government budget – SB 760, also moved out of committee by a party-line vote – puts aside $740,000 for an operations line between MiLEAP and the Attorney General, in terms of MiLEAP being able to access representation.
Furthermore, the committee approved by a party-line an approximately $1.4 billion supplemental budget, SB 749, to be spent across different departments for the current FY '24. It addresses caseload adjustments in the present-day budget for the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), as well as a $7.5 million General Fund deposit into Michigan's Disaster and Emergency Contingency Fund (DECF).
It consists of federal grants awarded after the FY '24 budget was finalized last summer.
On top of moving SB 748 (MiLEAP), SB 749 (the FY '24 supplemental), SB 760 (the general government budget) and SB 769 (MDE) by party-line votes to the Senate floor, the Senate Appropriations Committee moved:
- A $641.3 million budget proposal for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) (SB 764) – a $13 million funding expansion from the FY '24 budget – by a party-line.
- A $79 million budget proposal for the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) (SB 765) – a $5.1 million increase from the FY '24 budget – by a party-line.
- A more than $2.19 billion budget for LEO (SB 766) – a more than $667.5 million reduction from the FY '24 budget – by a party-line.
- A more than $37.7 billion budget for the state's health department (SB 767) – a more than $1.97 billion increase from the current budget – by a party-line.
- A more than $2.3 billion higher education budget for public universities and the Michigan Achievement Scholarship (SB 752) – a $34.68 million funding increase from the present-day budget – by a party-line.
- A more than $470 million budget for community colleges (SB 753) – a more than $74 million spending reduction from the present-day FY '24 – by a party-line.
- A more than $6.8 billion transportation budget (SB 761) – a more than $183 million increase from the current FY '24 – 15-4, with Sens. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) and Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon) joining Democrats in support.
Not including the supplemental spending bill for FY '24, the 10 different budget proposals sent to the Senate floor Wednesday altogether spend more than $56 billion in contrast to the more than $55.87 billion the Governor proposed for the same subject areas. Moreover, Whitmer's suggestions for those various departments represented a more than $695.9 million increase from FY '24 spending, and Wednesday’s Senate bills embodied a more than $804.4 million boost in spending.
As of Wednesday evening, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the chamber's proposed spending plans for LARA (SB 764), DIFS (SB 765), the Department of Natural Resources (SB 759) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (SB 758) on Thursday.
