Snyder 'Likely' Leading Statewide Education Ballot Question In '26

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 06/04/2025) Former Gov. Rick Snyder said he's ready to get back on the campaign bus, touring the state to rally citizens to help him to "do something for the kids."

By that, he means he wants to find solutions to a state education system that has now been surpassed by Mississippi and is in dire shape and in need of reform, he said.

"We are at the early formation stages of a concerted campaign," he told MIRS.  First up in the campaign is bringing all the players to the table to craft a list of changes that are needed. As far as the Governor is concerned, doing something about third grade reading scores is at the top of the list. He noted that if you can't read by that grade, a student is on the wrong road to possible success.

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

In addition to inviting labor, business, legislators and others into the formulation of a program to present to citizens, he also wants to hear from states that have shown success. Massachusetts comes to mind in that arena, he said.

Once the agenda is set, the idea is to begin a bus tour to bring the voters into the conversation. No final decision has been made on whether there will be a 2026 ballot issue or if they will look to the Legislature, but he expects that element to be decided after the first of the year. He did say a ballot proposition is "likely in 2026," but not finalized.

The comments, first reported in The Detroit News, mentioned a $20 to $30 million campaign to push education change and come as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Michigan Education Justice Coalition (MEJC) and a broad coalition of partners are talking about a ballot proposal to raise taxes on the state's wealthier residents and divert the estimated $4 billion in new revenue to schools.

This nebulous education proposal has the potential of collapsing on its weight as more recycled wishlist items from the progressive community are talked about in connection with it.

However, Snyder's idea isn't exactly plowing new ground, either. Bringing together labor, business and other interest groups is exactly what Launch Michigan attempted to do. Crafting a common list of priorities is what the Growing Michigan Together Council attempted to do with its final report to the Legislature.

The work of both groups appears to be firmly collecting dust on the shelf as policymakers clash over the right way to improve Michigan's standardized test scores, which both sides concede aren't great. This tension was on display during Tuesday's House Oversight Committee when state Superintendent Michael RICE and the committee's Republican majority clashed.

One of the biggest rubs between Republicans and Democrats is whether raising new revenue needs to be part of the equation.

Snyder, a Republican, falls on the side of probably not.

“We will not lead with that,” he told MIRS. He said school spending has steadfastly gone up since he left office, but there needs to be a consensus on what should be done to improve the system and that should come first even though new revenue would "be on the table."

The former Governor stresses that this is “not a partisan issue” as far as he's concerned, that this effort is to advance the cause. He said he's already received some encouraging phone calls based on what he said on the island last week during the Detroit Chamber conclave.

"This is for the kids," he repeated as he prepares to move back on the political stage for the second time, the first time as a private citizen.

It should be noted that the education reform discussion is nothing new. One of the first things new Gov. Bill Milliken did when taking office in 1969 was form an Education Reform Commission chaired by former MSU President John Hannah.

“It's terrible,” Snyder said. "If you look at the performance of the state, we're in the 40 percentile" on the education our kids are getting.