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Senate approves amendment to State School Aid Act after rejecting education-related amendments
Summary
The Michigan Senate passed Senate Bill 56, an amendment to the State School Aid Act of 1979, after voting down a series of amendments on immigration compliance, diversity policies, reading supports and school safety funding. Final passage was 19-17 with one senator excused.
Senate Bill 56, a measure to amend the State School Aid Act of 1979, passed the Michigan Senate on March 17, 2025, by a vote of 19-17 with one senator excused.
The bill, taken up as calendar item number 2, drew multiple floor amendments that lawmakers debated before final passage. Proposals ranged from conditioning funding on compliance with federal immigration law to restoring school safety and mental-health funding and a $500 million reading-support package. Senators voted down each amendment and advanced the bill to final passage.
The matter matters because the State School Aid Act governs how state education dollars are distributed; changes to that statute affect funding flows to K-12 schools, community colleges and public universities across Michigan.
Senator Mark Runstead opened the amendment debate by offering Amendment No. 1, which he described as a requirement that “any public university or community college indicated that they won't follow our immigration laws shall not receive taxpayer funds.” Runstead said, “If they won't follow the law, they won't get money. Period.” The amendment was defeated; the ayes-and-nays for ordering were recorded and the subsequent tally on the adoption showed 79 ayes, 19 no votes and one excused on the ordering phase and the amendment ultimately was not adopted.
Other notable amendments included Senator Albert's Amendment No. 2, framed by Albert as a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion practices at publicly funded universities. Albert argued the amendment would “restore fairness and merit based opportunity.” The amendment failed, with the secretary announcing 17 ayes, 19 no votes and one excused on the final tally for adoption of the amendment.
Senator Tice offered Amendment No. 3 focused on early-reading supports, saying Michigan has an urgent literacy problem: “We recently learned that 75 percent of Michigan fourth graders are not reading at grade level. ... My amendment would make $500,000,000 available immediately for additional supports, like tutoring, before- and after-school programming, and summer school.” That amendment was tied 18-18 with one excused and was not adopted.
Senator Weber’s Amendment No. 4 sought to restore safety and mental-health funding cut the prior year, urging lawmakers to “restore this critical funding to its full amount for the current budget year.” The amendment failed on the floor (18 ayes, 18 no votes, 1 excused on final tally for adoption).
Senator McBroom introduced Amendment No. 5 to assist a district with asbestos remediation and related costs, describing a chain of construction mishaps in Menominee Public Schools and proposing a clawback mechanism should the district prevail in litigation. That amendment also failed to receive sufficient support.
After rejecting the floor amendments, the Senate proceeded to a final vote on SB 56. The secretary announced the final passage vote as 19 ayes, 17 no votes and 1 excused; a majority of the members elected and serving having voted, the bill passed.
The record shows sustained floor engagement on education funding priorities and accountability conditions. Several sponsors used their floor remarks to place amendments on record for the journal, while opponents repeatedly argued the chamber should not conflate those policy debates with the bill’s immediate supplemental or technical purposes.
Procedurally, the Senate recorded the votes for each amendment and for final passage on the public record. The bill now moves to whatever next step the legislative process requires for enrollment and transmission.
Votes at a glance: Amendment No. 1 (Runstead) — not adopted; Amendment No. 2 (Albert) — not adopted; Amendment No. 3 (Tice) — not adopted; Amendment No. 4 (Weber) — not adopted; Amendment No. 5 (McBroom) — not adopted; Final passage SB 56 — adopted, 19-17-1 excused.
Less central floor items that were raised in amendment debate included proposals touching on university DEI policies, special funding for local school emergencies, and immediate literacy interventions.
