Detroit Today: Analyzing the ambitious goals of Michigan’s new education budget
Free lunch for students, cheaper higher education and teacher retention highlight Michigan’s new school budget.
Gov. Whitmer’s newly signed budget allocated more than $24.3 billion for Michigan education for the 2024 fiscal year.
According to an April 2023 report, more than 90% of Michigan school districts are underfunded. The newly signed budget is record-breaking in its scope, with the highest ever per-pupil allocation.
The new budget has lofty goals, including retaining educators, free breakfast and lunch for all students, and more equity-focused programs in districts with higher concentrations of poverty.
Michigan’s State Sen. Darrin Camilleri, who was instrumental in framing the new school budget, joined Detroit Today to discuss how the new school budget will improve education in Michigan.
Listen: What Gov. Whitmer’s new education budget plans to achieve
Guest:
Darrin Camilleri is the Assistant Majority Leader in the Michigan State Senate. The former teacher was instrumental in executing the budget and interviewing educators across the state to determine their needs. Camilleri notes the budget is a way of combating the many issues educators and students have faced in the state for years.
“It is very important to recognize that we have not been spending enough money for several decades,” Camilleri says.
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