All districts — A supplemental budget to offset mental health and security funding cuts will ease some of the financial strain for Michigan schools, but, as Sparta Superintendent Joel Stoner says: “It isn’t enough.”
“The investment in safety and welfare of the staff and students in public school was still cut by about half,” Stoner said. “We will gladly accept anything that Lansing is willing to share, but they are doing the families of our community a disservice by their lack of consistent investment in an area that we need investment in.”
The supplemental budget, recently approved by the Legislature after being sought by the Michigan Department of Education and State Board of Education, aims to recapture dedicated mental health and security funding that was cut in the education budget signed in July by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The brunt of the cuts — more than $300 million — hit Section 31aa, a program that helps districts hire support staff and upgrade safety technology. The budget also saw the end of state investment in the three-year Section 31o grant program for support staffing such as social workers, counselors and nurses.
‘For the good of children, I hope that the Senate will reconsider and make the funds available to schools sooner.’
— State Superintendent Michael Rice
The supplemental budget will build 31aa funds back up, but only about $125 million will be restored through a one-time influx. And, because the Senate did not give the funding immediate effect, the money won’t reach schools until spring 2025, according to a written statement from State Superintendent Michael Rice.
“For the good of children, I hope that the Senate will reconsider and make the funds available to schools sooner,” Rice said in the statement.
Dan Behm, executive director of Education Advocates of West Michigan at Kent ISD, said the supplemental budget, though helpful, is not what education leaders hoped for.
“The money certainly helps, but it is not sufficient to meet the needs that exist in schools,” Behm said.
Sparta has been working to curb spending in other areas to keep mental health and security supports intact. With many still reeling from the mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — and with safety and security a bigger concern than ever — Stoner is scratching his head as to why the state would cut allocations to those very areas.
“Drawing (funding) down at this time, in this place — I can’t wrap my head around the logic that made the individuals that voted yes on that think it was a good idea,” Stoner said.
Stoner is frustrated with Lansing, and he’s not alone.
Districts Are Still Short
Prior to the approval of the supplemental funds, districts were struggling to make sense of a budget plan that scaled back mental health and security funding to $136.7 million from the historic $491.8 million of the previous year. State officials say the cut would be offset by a reduction in districts’ required contributions to the state’s school employees retirement system.
‘The money certainly helps, but it is not sufficient to meet the needs that exist in schools.’
— Dan Behm, executive director of Education Advocates of West Michigan
Stoner and other superintendents throughout Kent County and beyond are trying to cope financially with a funding cut they did not see coming, and they’re looking for ways to pay for services they see as crucial for their staff and students. And they’re not buying the state’s insistence that reducing their payments into an employee retirement fund will cover the shortfall.
Sparta received around $850,000 in mental health funding last school year, investing the funds in new doors, PA system updates and digital radios. Funds have also gone to hiring school psychologists, social workers and counselors, and to Kent School Services Network services.
Between cuts to 31aa and the end of 31o, Sparta was looking at around $1.75 million that would have to be covered by its general fund, Stoner said. The supplemental budget will restore around $200,000 of roughly $500,000 in lost 31aa dollars, but the district will still have to tighten its belt.
“We are still short almost $300,000,” Stoner said. “That shortfall must be made up elsewhere, because the needs of this area in our schools are too strong to reduce at all right now.”
More Budget Challenges
The budget also includes no increase to the per-student foundation allowance allotted to districts based on their enrollment.
Superintendents have struggled to make sense of it all.
“They’re all sort of in this mode of, ‘Why in the world would the state do this?’” Behm said, noting that, as the budgeting process started in the spring, there was every reason to believe the foundation allowance would continue to grow, and 31aa would be preserved.
“It’s something none of us can figure out.”
As Stoner said, districts will have to make up costs with general fund dollars.
Rockford Superintendent Steve Matthews said his district has used its 31aa funding to pay for school resource officers and mental health liaisons, as well as video cameras and other security equipment.
“The impact of the reduction is shifting to general fund dollars to pay for these key resources,” Matthews said. “It creates more budget challenges.”
The supplemental funds are welcome, Matthews said, but they won’t cover everything.
“We will end up with about half of what we had last year in this area,” Matthews said. “So while it is appreciated, it clearly asks us to do more with less.”
In Cedar Springs, Superintendent Scott Smith also said the general fund will probably shoulder much of the burden from the cuts, noting the district has already eliminated about $800,000 through restructuring.
Cedar Springs received $727,007 in 31aa funds last year, using it for school support positions, mental health programs through outside agencies, security cameras, school safety training and anti-bullying workshops.
“The tricky thing is that once that well runs dry,” Smith said of the state cuts, “now you’ve got to look at some tough choices.”
Some Savings, But No Additional Revenue
Despite the cuts and no per-pupil increase, the state freed up around $598 million by reducing districts’ required contributions to the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System. Lansing says that’s enough to maintain mental health services and offset the lack of a foundation allowance increase.
“That’s more than $400 per pupil that can be used to support student mental health, school safety, the educator workforce and academic interventions,” the State Budget Office maintains.
Administrators aren’t so sure. Matthews said the one-time retirement reimbursement doesn’t come out to mean more money for districts.
“We did not receive additional revenue,” he clarified. “What we received were funds that had been directed to be spent on retirement costs that were freed up for other costs. But it was not additional revenue to schools.”
In Caledonia Community Schools, Superintendent Dirk Weeldreyer said the reduced retirement obligation will lead to some savings, but “these savings alone are not enough to completely offset other financial challenges.”
Stoner, in Sparta, said that if there had been an increase in foundation allowance funding, the retirement savings could conceivably have been “traded” for lost mental health and safety dollars.
As things stand, though, even with the supplemental budget, it’s not enough for districts like his, which are now operating with a deficit-spending mindset.
Services Must Remain
But cutting services is not an option, Stoner and other school leaders say.
“As a district, we’re going to continue to maintain the support so that mental health and wellness will be a priority,” he said. “They may draw back the resources for those programs, but those still have to remain in place.”
Whether that means larger class sizes or preserving a school resource officer position over hiring a teacher, he said, “there’s children who are being negatively impacted.”
Cedar Springs’ Smith said the same.
“Schools still have to do those things even though the money’s not available in the budget,” he said. “We’ve got to take care of people at their root core emotional level before we can ever expect them to be ready to learn.”
Districts Will Persevere
The whole experience has left education leaders leery of Lansing. Stoner questions the Legislature’s decision to allocate some of the lost funding to preschool and community college programs, calling it inconsistent with Proposal A, the 1994 school funding restructure.
“The money intended for K-12 was reduced significantly while funding for before K (and) after 12 was increased. This is not what Proposal A intended. It is unconscionable.”
‘We’ve got to take care of people at their root core emotional level before we can ever expect them to be ready to learn.’
— Cedar Springs Superintendent Scott Smith
Smith said the one-time supplemental budget might help in the short term, but the issue will likely come up again next fiscal year.
“The pot is not limitless, so at some point in time, Lansing is going to have to say ‘no’ to some things,” he said. “We’re going to have to embrace less funding at some point.”
School districts will persevere, because there’s really no other option, he asserted. And he’d rather not focus on the negative.
“The only thing I can control is doing what we can with the money I have to do what’s best for our kids,” Smith said.
Reporter Alexis Stark contributed to this story.
Read more:
• Peer listeners, other mental health supports, key to school safety
• Districts eye more ‘normal’ financial pictures due to end of ESSER funds
