All districts — During a recent visit with constituents March 6 at the Kent District Library branch in Grandville, 84th Dist. State Rep. Carol Glanville addressed some possible looming threats to education funding at the state level.
Glanville, D-Walker, spoke to community members about the unexpected 2025-26 school aid budget proposal passed by the Michigan House. Glanville said the plan would “essentially cut 25% of our school budget, to the tune of about $5 billion,” and called the proposal “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
“I believe in education, so I’m very concerned about what has been laid before me,” she said.
However, she stressed that the proposal is only one piece of the budgeting puzzle, which won’t be finalized until the State Senate and Gov. Whitmer can weigh in and find some form of compromise.
“It’s a three-legged stool,” Glanville told SNN after the talk. “There has to be changes, there has to be shifts in what was presented. The House is not the end all and be all of the budgeting process.”
Federal Funding
While talking to SNN, Glanville also touched on issues at the federal level, including President Donald Trump’s plans to eliminate the Department of Education and a possible freeze on federal grants that support students and educators.
Glanville — a former Grand Rapids Public Schools teacher — said people in education are justifiably worried.
“Our educators, our superintendents, everyone in education is concerned and watching warily, particularly as we see the potential demise of the Department of Education,” she said.
In the event that a federal spending freeze halts Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding to support special education training and other services for students with special needs, resources would need to be pooled from elsewhere to fill in those gaps, she said. Kent ISD received more than $30 million in IDEA grants this school year.
“How would we be able to shift resources? Could we shift resources? And could we do that for every ISD? We need to know what the total numbers are,” Glanville said. “It would definitely impact us.”
But she urged educators not to panic.
“All of this is talk right now, and there is indeed no specific requirement for schools to do anything differently than they ever have before.”
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