From Broad Goals to Targeted Action: How Member Feedback Shaped MASSP’s Refined Policy Priorities
Over the past year, MASSP has worked closely with members to clarify how best to reduce state mandates and regulatory barriers facing Michigan’s secondary schools. This effort directly supports MASSP’s broader strategic plan by centering policy advocacy on enabling school leaders to focus on students and learning while fostering innovation. And with your help we have identified four refined policy priorities that will guide our work through the remainder of the 2025–26…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
Most of the political news happened outside the state legislature this week, though the House Education Committee did hold a hearing Wednesday morning to continue discussion of HB 5044, a bill that would require districts to allow private healthcare providers into schools to deliver medically necessary services (the bill is nominally targeted at behavioral health services in schools, though the language of the bill is much broader), and the Senate Regulatory Affairs…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
The Michigan Department of Education issued a memo this week reminding districts that the 15-day virtual learning flexibility under former Section 21f(14) was repealed in October—meaning schools can no longer count virtual instructional time under that provision, even for planned state testing days, and must adjust their calendars to remain in compliance. With roughly one-third of districts surveyed by the Michigan Pupil Accounting and Attendance Association reporting plans to use this flexibility,…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
Tuesday was a packed day in Lansing, with the House K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee kicking off the morning with testimony from the Future of Learning Council on the need for pupil accounting flexibility to support innovative learning models, followed by presentations from several ed tech vendors making the case for continued budget investments in their particular tools. At the same time, the House Oversight Committee voted 10–7 to advance HR 195, urging rejection…
Federal Shutdown to Disrupt Food Assistance Beginning Nov. 3
By Colin Ripmaster, Deputy Executive Director and Bob Kefgen, Associate Director of Government Relations As the federal government shutdown enters its fifth week, the USDA has instructed all states, including Michigan, to pause the issuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits starting November 1. SNAP helps nearly 1.4 million Michiganders, including about 492,000 children, put food on the table each month. In Michigan, benefits are automatically issued directly to recipients' EBT…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
The House K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee turned its post-budget focus to systemic barriers facing schools, as five superintendents detailed how competitive grants, unfunded mandates, and excessive reporting requirements distract from educating students and undermine educational equity—especially for rural districts where administrators often do double or triple duty and don't have time to also be grant writers—and urged lawmakers to focus on predictable, formula-based funding. Meanwhile, the House Education Committee heard testimony on HB…
Legislature (Finally) Adopts 2025-26 K-12 Budget
After months of delay, the Michigan Legislature has reported out the 2025-26 School Aid Budget. The budget provides a number of positives including a $10,050 per pupil foundation allowance (a 4.6% increase), 25% increases to At Risk and ELL funding, 4.6% increases to other weighted funding line items (CTE, rural/isolated, GSRP, ISD general operations). Also notably absent are problematic elements from previous budget proposals like Governor Whitmer's so-called SMART school accountability proposal…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
On Wednesday morning, the House Education Committee kicked of what turned out to be a banger of a week when they passed HB 4556-7, legislation that would eliminate the SAT Essay and remove the statutory requirement that schools include student MME scores on their transcripts (those bills now move to the House floor for hopefully swift passage). On Thursday morning, the Senate passed SB 382-83 (bills that would codify the Michigan Achievement…
Gov, House, Senate Announce Deal In Concept on Budget, Roads
On Thursday evening, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Speaker Matt Hall, and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks announced that they had "reached an agreement to pass the School Aid budget and state budget, including long-term road funding, before the end of the fiscal year," thus averting a state government shut down. What they did not announce was any details about what the budget portion of that deal included or how the road funding proposal…
This Week in Politics in 5 Sentences (or Fewer)
Budget talks remain stalled and this week MASSP joined MASA and superintendents from around the state at a press conference warning that districts are already making difficult budget cuts and that without action districts could face staff layoffs (especially among support staff), program closures, and a cashflow crunch that would force districts to take out high interest loans because School Aid payments take weeks to process even after a budget is passed…