A one-time school safety and mental health grant has been approved right before the end of the current legislative session this week in Lansing.
$125 million has been appropriated into the supplemental amendment to the state’s school aid act, which will go toward per-pupil school safety and mental health grants. Democratic state Representative Regina Weiss was a sponsor.
“When it comes to bargaining, that might be additional support and pay for teachers to help retain teachers,” Weiss said. “It might be reducing classroom sizes. It might be bringing in more staffing to help with some of the needs that their students have. It might be having additional tutoring resources.”
Meanwhile, Republican state Representative Jamie Green says this isn’t enough.
“It’s still $152 million less than last year, but you know what? At this point, whatever we can get, we’re going to take,” Green said. “If they’re just going to give us pennies, we will take pennies. It is so important that we fully fund the mental health and school safety and that the schools have the funding that they properly need.
Compared to last year, the portion of the budget for mental health and safety was $305 million. So this week’s appropriation is less than half of what schools worked with last year.
