Michigan Senate Democrats propose $1 billion funding increase for schools

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Apr 29, 2025

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LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Democrats who control the state Senate proposed Tuesday a more than $1 billion funding increase for the public school system, setting aside nearly $500 million to lower class sizes in elementary schools.

The Democratic plan drew distinct battle lines against Republicans who lead the House and have proposed focusing available dollars on road projects. The Legislature is beginning the process of crafting a budget for next year with Democrats hoping to have a financial plan for schools in place by July 1.

Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, said he wants to expand the School Aid Fund budget from $20.6 billion to about $21.8 billion and hike the per-student foundation allowance by $400 from $9,608 to $10,008. Half of that $400 increase would be required to go to boosting teacher pay.

In addition, after a Detroit News investigation into large class sizes in Michigan elementary schools, Camilleri is also proposing creating a $400 million pot of money that schools could use to shrink class sizes in grades kindergarten through third grade and another $65 million in grant funding to support smaller class sizes.

"Going after funding for schools to solve other problems in state government is not the answer," Camilleri said in an interview with The Detroit News this week. "So we know that we have School Aid revenue to use for our schools.

"That's got to be the priority."

Overall, Camilleri said the Senate Democratic plan would increase actual investment in schools by about $2 billion because it allocates some money already in fund reserves. The reserve dollars and additional funding flowing into the School Aid Fund, which depends heavily on the 6% sales tax, help make the additional investment possible, Camilleri said.

The Democratic push to prioritize school funding comes amid growing alarm about Michigan test scores. Michigan ranked 44th among the 50 states in the average reading score of fourth-graders, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress results.

During Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's State of the State address in February, she said just 24% of Michigan fourth-graders can read proficiently.

"We spend more, and we get less," Whitmer added of the state's funding for schools. "It's not acceptable. For our kids, let's do better. Let's face our literacy crisis with fierce urgency."

But Senate Education Chairwoman Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, countered on Tuesday that legislative efforts to increase reading proficiency and to decrease elementary school class sizes would ultimately lead to improved test scores.

"Test scores be what they may," Polehanki said. "I'm just going to say they weren't what I hoped for this year. But we're implementing things, and sometimes there's a little gap in that. ... I expect much better things."

Camilleri, a former teacher, said he believes continued investment in K-12 education in Michigan will lead to improved test scores. And he called for separating negotiations over school funding from ongoing talks about how to find extra dollars for transportation.

"We can have a roads discussion and a schools discussion, but they don't need to be connected," Camilleri said.

House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, and his caucus have proposed shifting about $3 billion in existing funding to road projects. His plan includes provisions that would eliminate the 6% sales tax at the pump and replace it with a 20-cent increase in the fuel tax — a swap that would largely come out even for each gallon pumped — so all taxes paid at the pump would go toward roads and bridges.

However, currently, somewhere around $700 million to $800 million a year from the sales tax on gas goes to schools. Hall has said he would replace that money for schools with dollars from the general fund — an idea that some Democrats have criticized as problematic because it alters a stream of dedicated money for education.

Camilleri contended the House GOP plan represented a "shell game." Cutting funding from schools to fix the roads is "not an answer," Camilleri said.

Earlier this month, The Detroit News used Michigan's Freedom of Information Act to document 206 elementary classes — ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade — across 49 schools over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 years that had at least 30 students in them.

Among the classes was a kindergarten class at Bennett Elementary, where the Detroit Public Schools Community District said 30 students were enrolled.

Meanwhile, past research has found that smaller class sizes help young students learn, and at least 31 of the 50 states have laws about class sizes, tie funding to small classes or set goals for their schools to attempt to meet and to be accountable to. Michigan currently doesn't have such a standard.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for reforms after The News investigation.

"The class sizes conversation is critical," Camilleri said. "One of the things that we're seeing the research show is that more one-on-one interaction between an educator and a child leads to better academic outcomes."

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