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House plan boosts per‑pupil foundation, rolls many categoricals into single payment and tightens compliance rules
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Summary
The committee adopted a House proposal (HB 45 77 H‑1) that raises the per‑pupil foundation allowance, creates a large per‑pupil rollup payment, and adds new reporting and penalty boilerplate for districts that use specified curricula or practices.
The Michigan House Appropriations Committee approved the H‑1 substitute to House Bill 45 77, the school aid appropriation, reporting an overall gross school aid proposal of about $21.9 billion and a targeted per‑pupil increase. Jacqueline Mullen, Senior Fiscal Analyst for House Fiscal, said the House proposes increasing the foundation allowance by $417 per pupil, from $9,608 to $10,025.
The bill creates a new per‑pupil payment (section 22f) funded largely by rolling existing categorical line items into a general per‑pupil allocation; Mullen described the new per‑pupil payment as providing roughly $19.75 additional per pupil to districts and $228 per pupil to intermediate school districts, and an allocation for nonpublic schools tied to $40.8 million in general fund. The proposal also includes a $286.5 million school consolidation and infrastructure fund closeout and four targeted uses including roofing and HVAC, consolidation grants, and incentives tied to class‑size reduction and Read‑By‑Grade‑3 supports.
Committee members debated specific tradeoffs. Representative Price pressed whether eliminating universal school meals would increase food insecurity and sought evidence linking meal programs with student performance; Representative Kelly said districts retain local choice and that the House recommendation increases overall school aid compared with other proposals. Representative Glanville and others criticized rolling categorical funds into a single per‑pupil payment, saying districts face different cost drivers (transportation, ELL services, building condition) that the rollup could obscure.
The bill adds boilerplate restricting use of state funds for curricula described as “race or gender stereotyping,” prohibits specified DEI spending, bars certain student survey questions, and would allow the Michigan Department of Education to withhold state aid for noncompliance with several listed requirements (including school meal ingredient restrictions and student survey rules). The committee adopted the H‑1 substitute (roll call recorded as 17 yeas, 12 nays) and reported the bill with recommendation as amended.
