Did Michigan make a ‘historic’ investment in student mental health? Here’s what the numbers say.

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office is celebrating this year’s state school budget’s “historic” investment in student mental health and school safety efforts.

But that sentiment is at odds with what school leaders across Michigan, including the state superintendent, are calling a devastating and unexpected loss of $300 million they expected to receive in per-pupil mental health and safety funds.

The disagreement stems from a last-minute reduction of grant funding that has been used by school districts to support student mental health and school safety since the 2022-23 school year. The state distributed $328 million in those grants to districts last year. This year’s budget earmarked just $26.5 million – a surprise since the three proposed state budgets on which districts based their own local budgets for this school year included amounts ranging from $150 million to $300 million.

“Most people, in layman’s terms, would look at it as a cut or reduction because it’s less money,” said Sarah Reckhow, professor of American politics and public policy at Michigan State University.

In the first notable division the governor has had with the state’s education community, her office is maintaining there were no cuts because the previous mental health and school safety grants were one-time allowances, even though her own budget proposal included $300 million before the last-minute slash to the funding during budget negotiations last month.

“Should districts assume certain things are not recurring?” said Reckhow. “That’s the issue they’ve had to deal with from the previous to the current budget cycle.”

School systems have two years to use the grants for a variety of initiatives, such as hiring or contracting counselors, psychologists, social workers, and school nurses. The dollars can also be spent on safety initiatives such as hiring school resource officers, crisis and threat assessment training for staff, cameras, firearm detection software, and door blocks.

State Superintendent Michael Rice said in a recent statement that the loss of funds “will slow Michigan’s recent momentum in addressing student mental health challenges.”

In contrast, the governor’s office has maintained that the education budget “makes the largest investment in schools in our state’s history for the sixth year in a row” and even published material claiming it’s a “myth” that funding for school safety and student mental health support was cut.

“The FY25 budget continues support for student mental health through existing programs,” reads the statement.

The executive office is pointing to an overall increase in funding for schools with $598 million in retirement savings for districts and it says the budget gives districts more flexibility to pay for student mental health and school safety efforts.

“It is our intention that districts use this additional $600 million to improve school safety, mental health, before- and after-school programs, and more.” said Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for the governor’s office, in an email.

Last-minute slash to mental health and safety grants shocked school leaders

The legislature first began allocating the funds, known as Sec. 31aa grants, in the 2022-23 school year .

At the time, the historic new funding was lauded as a positive step to address school security issues after the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting that killed four students and injured seven people. It was also considered an avenue to address the youth mental health crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic.

In the first year, the state allocated $150 million for the funds. That number increased to $328 million last year.

Initially, it appeared that the governor and some lawmakers were interested in maintaining similar levels of support for the funds for the 2024-25 school year.

The governor’s executive budget proposal for 2024-25 included $300 million. Half of the proposed funds were to be ongoing and the remaining one-time dollars. The House also proposed $300 million, while the Senate proposed the least, or $150 million.

That changed when the legislative bodies entered a conference committee to c ome to a budget deal . Those funds shrunk to $25 million in ongoing funds and $1.5 million in one-time dollars in this year’s approved budget .

The adopted budget did preserve another type of funding, called Sec. 31n grants, which are distributed to districts to pay for school mental health and support services. The governor’s office pointed to that $107.8 million as part of the “historic” funding for student mental health and school safety.

Executive staff also said that the savings districts will get this year from a reduction in the contributions they are required to make into the state retirement system can also be used to pay for mental health and safety initiatives.

“Additionally, school districts can direct the more than $400 per pupil in additional flexible funding as needed,” reads a statement from the governor’s office. “These funds, which districts asked to have discretion over, can be used to support student mental health, school safety, the educator workforce, and academic interventions.”

The gains touted by the executive office also include $33 million for adolescent health centers , which provide health care and mental health services to youth and their families.

The governor’s office also noted $25 million in “new funding” in a press release, but that refers to the Sec. 31aa grant dollars that were included this year as ongoing funds, according to staff.

But education leaders say those statements are misleading.

“You just have to look at the numbers to see that it’s unfortunately a 98% cut,” said Bob McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, an education policy and advocacy organization. “The reality is that school administrators are looking at the dollars they have available to them. That’s gone from a total of $300 million to $26 million.”

Those savings aren’t permanent, said McCann, which makes it difficult for districts to use the funds for ongoing costs.

The state budget also does not increase the minimum base per-pupil funds – and the governor’s office has previously said that the retirement savings for districts was intended to make up for that.

District leaders say no staff cuts – yet

Many district leaders say the loss of grant funds will not lead to reductions in staff for the 2024-25 school year. But they worry school systems may have to make difficult decisions starting next year if the funding is not restored.

In some cases, plans to expand training and programs will be put on hold now because of the cut.

“We had hoped to continue to add helping professionals this school year,” said Rice. “Instead, these numbers will be flat in most cases, with some districts unable to retain the staffing that they have.”

Some school leaders are holding out hope that the legislature will pass a supplemental budget that will bring back some or all of the funds.

McCann and other education leaders are pushing the legislature to pass a bill that would make the retirement savings for school systems permanent.

“It’s not too late to fix this,” he said. “By signing the bill, that money would become ongoing funding and it would give districts the freedom to use it for things like counselors.”

Reckhow said what she sees in districts’ frustration is a larger looming policy discussion.

“Maybe this is a frustration of the larger public school community about having Democratic leadership, but the bigger picture about school funding is not being addressed,” she said.

For years, education leaders have asked lawmakers to more equitably fund schools with a new formula.

Last year, Michigan created the “Opportunity Index,” a formula that gives weighted per-pupil funding to districts serving higher rates of children living in poverty. What’s missing in that, Reckhow said, is a more explicit accounting of how much it costs to educate children with a variety of specific needs, such as kids in special education and English language learners.

“We need to much more explicitly address student needs and funding should match that rather than per-pupil counts,” she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org .