(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/09/2024) A $305 million supplemental would replace cuts made in the fiscal year (FY) '25 budget for school safety and mental health as part of a bill package sponsored by Reps. Nancy DeBoer (R-Holland) and Jaime Greene (R-Richmond). 

School districts went from receiving $214 per pupil to $17 per pupil for mental health and school safety expenses under June's budget, and the State Board of Education (BOE) recommended a $328 million supplemental under a resolution passed this summer.

DeBoer, the supplemental's sponsor, said without this change, school counselors, resource officers and teachers may be laid off. She also mentioned increasing per pupil funding and paying into the state teachers' retirement plan until it's fully funded, but that's a conversation for next year and not covered in this package.

Other bills in the House Republicans' package would expand dual enrollment, ask the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) for curriculum recommendations and waive state fees for teachers.

"I could point to 100 different statistics, but it boils down to this: our kids can't read, they're struggling with math, and graduates finished high school without the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their next steps," Greene said at a press conference this morning.

Changes to Michigan's merit curriculum would update graduation requirements, include trade schools in dual enrollment, explore alternatives to the M-STEP test, ask the MDE to review and recommend research-backed curriculum, update teacher-student ratio recommendations, eliminate fees associated with being a teacher and more, Greene said. 

Greene said the FY '25 budget raided teacher retirement funds, denied schools the annual per pupil funding increase and gutted school safety programs. This plan, she said, would help teachers, students and parents. 

"When we take the House back and I'm the speaker, I wanted a plan that we'd be ready to do now or next year," said House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township).