Michigan School Leaders Applaud House of Representatives’ Passage of Robust 2021–22 School Aid Budget

Educators now urging Michigan Senate to take immediate action and approve bill

LANSING — Michigan school leaders across the state today are applauding the House of Representatives for its passage of a robust 2021–22 School Aid Budget that will provide districts with the funding and guidance they need to remediate the challenges of COVID-19 and help students thrive.

“We appreciate the House leadership putting together a well-crafted budget that, at long last, allocates the entirety of the federal funding to our schools. This budget effectively provides the building blocks on which we will create a robust support system to address the individual needs of our students throughout the upcoming school year,” said Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Superintendent and K-12 Alliance of Michigan President Ken Gutman. “While there is much work ahead of us, the budget passed today provides a strong framework to get our students back on the path to success and we appreciate the work of the House of Representatives in getting this done. It is now critically important that the Senate take this bill up and send it to the Governor’s desk to ensure these resources get to our classrooms as quickly as possible.”

School leaders have been calling on Lansing to pass a School Aid Budget and distribute the remaining federal funds in its entirety before the start of schools’ fiscal year on July 1.

“It has been a critically important goal for Superintendents across Michigan to get this budget done by July 1st and provide funding and certainty to schools in time to put procedures in place and hire the staff needed to support the recovery of our students,” said Peter Spadafore, Deputy Executive Director of External Relations for the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators. “We appreciate House members for putting Michigan’s schools and students first and with less than a week left until school budgets must be finalized, we urge the Senate to follow suit and send this budget to the Governor’s desk as quickly as possible.”

With the School Aid Budget approved by the House, school leaders are united in urging the Senate to quickly approve the bill and send it to the Governor’s desk.

“We appreciate the overwhelming bi-partisan support of this budget that addresses many of our critical needs,” said Dr. Michael Shibler, Superintendent of Rockford Public Schools. “Swift action by the Michigan Senate will allow us to put these needed resources to use serving students as the next school year is right around the corner.”

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The K-12 Alliance of Michigan is a coalition of education leaders committed to fighting for strong K-12 schools across Michigan. Comprised of Superintendents from every district in Genesee, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne counties, they are collectively responsible for educating over 580,000 students.

The Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators serves public school leaders in nearly 600 public school districts and intermediate school districts across the state, helping the leaders of Michigan’s most important public institutions get better results for our more than 1.5 million students. The mission of MASA is to develop leadership and unity within its membership to achieve the continuous improvement of public education in Michigan.

The West Michigan Talent Triangle is composed of public school leaders from across West Michigan. Collectively they serve over 180,000 students throughout Kent, Muskegon and Ottawa Counties.