Michigan budget deal in limbo as schools blast plan, warn of layoffs

• Michigan school groups say a tentative budget deal will lead to layoffs
• As of early Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers had not yet publicly unveiled details despite a planned vote
• School groups want long-term savings from reduced retirement contributions and a traditional per-pupil funding increase

LANSING — Michigan educators on Wednesday warned of potential teacher layoffs under a tentative budget deal that the Democratic-led Legislature was poised to vote on later the same day. 

In a call to action, the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators — which represents more than 600 public  and intermediate school districts across Michigan — urged lawmakers to vote against the budget, warning of the wide-reaching effects it could have if implemented.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have yet to publicly unveil their final budget plan, but details began to emerge early Wednesday. 

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Among other things, the proposal would provide school districts with some savings by reducing a required contribution for teacher health care retirement benefits, but only for one year. And, for the first time in more than a decade, the spending plan would not increase the state’s traditional per-pupil funding allowance, according to the superintendents group. 

“The proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year provides no long-term funding relief and will lead to layoffs this fall and in the future, as the funding for our schools will not be enough to keep up with inflation, rising health care costs, and the ending of federal relief dollars,” the association warned on its website. 

Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy defended the tentative budget deal in a statement sent to Bridge Michigan on Wednesday, saying it was “shocking that a group of lobbyists who falsely claim to stand on the side of students and educators are now calling to defund K-12 schools in Michigan.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Leddy said, adding Whitmer would “continue to be a staunch ally for students and teachers in Michigan’s public school system.”

The superintendents group is part of a coalition of school groups that have been urging the state to permanently reduce how much school districts have to pay into the state educator pension system. 

Whitmer proposed in February using $670 million in funds that would have been used for teacher retiree health care toward other education initiatives, including her proposal for free, universal preschool. Lawmakers developed their own plans redirecting those savings to teachers and school districts. 

A resulting deal set for a vote Wednesday could “directly lead to layoffs throughout Michigan schools,” according to education lobbyists, like Robert McCann, executive director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan.

“It's critical that lawmakers listen to the educators telling them to rethink this misguided plan,” McCann, whose group represents 123 Southeast Michigan school districts, wrote on social media Wednesday.

The debate comes as school districts across the state face the end of federal pandemic relief funds, creating what some have called a ‘COVID cliff.’

Michigan districts may have to lay off or otherwise cut more than 5,000 teacher jobs in coming years to balance budgets, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan. Ann Arbor Public Schools approved a plan last month to reduce staff by 6%. 

Budget negotiations are ongoing but are anticipated to reach a conclusion late Wednesday or very early Thursday as lawmakers prepare to leave Lansing for an extended summer recess. 

Lawmakers have traditionally sought to have the budget completed by July 1, but the state constitution gives them until Oct. 1 to finalize a balanced budget.