6/27/24 - Michigan Lawmakers Finalize New Budget

State lawmakers worked through the night to finalize a nearly $83 Billion dollar state budget for the next fiscal year.

(The Detroit News - Craig Mauger) -

Lansing — Michigan lawmakers cast the final votes, at about 5 a.m. Thursday, for an $83 billion state budget that would provide $409 million in funding for special projects, a 2.5% boost for university operations and a new approach to getting dollars to K-12 schools.

The budget plan gained the approval of the state House and Senate after marathon 19-hour sessions that effectively began at 10 a.m. Wednesday and lasted into the early morning hours of Thursday. Only one minority Republican, state Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, crossed over to vote in support of one of the two budget bills.

The new budget would amount to about $83 billion under the bills. In the current year, the total is about $82 billion.

The most controversial elements of the legislation were a maneuver to redirect about $670 million that would have normally gone from the state to liabilities in the teacher retirement system and another to cover about $598 million of school districts' employee retirement costs, freeing up dollars to go into classrooms.

Republicans repeatedly labeled the strategy a "raid" on the retirement system. But Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, disagreed with that description.

"I don't see it that way," Anthony told reporters. "Circling back around to the teachers ... how we showed up for them in this current budget ... I think this is a big first step."

However, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, noted that the budget relied on the retirement money shift to get dollars to schools instead of providing the funds through the traditional per-pupil foundation allowance, which has been steadily increased in prior years.

The foundation allowance for traditional K-12 school districts will remain at $9,608 per student under the new budget, marking the first time it wasn't increased in a decade, according to Republicans.

However, public charter schools will get a one-time funding increase equal to 3.9% of their per pupil funding, according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency.

The School Aid Fund will see $20.6 billion in funding in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, under the bills. That's down from $21.5 billion in the current year.

The education funding proposal, which also covered universities and community colleges, passed along party lines: 20-18 in the Senate and 56-54 in the House.