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Education leaders cite $600 million special-education funding gap and infrastructure shortfall
Summary
State officials told the oversight committee that Michigan’s special education spending exceeds designated revenue by about $600 million and that statewide school infrastructure needs are in the billions, pressing for more sustained state support.
Michigan education leaders told the House Oversight Committee that longstanding underfunding in state school finance has left special education under-resourced and school infrastructure needs largely unmet.
State Superintendent Michael Rice said special education revenue to districts totals about $3.4 billion while expenditures are roughly $4.0 billion, creating an estimated gap of $600 million that districts cover from general revenues. “We need to do better, both for our students with disabilities and for our general education students,” Rice said.
Rice and Board President Pamela Pugh pointed committee members to school finance studies — including the School Finance Research Collaborative and MSU analyses — that show Michigan lagging in per-pupil revenue growth over extended periods. Rice said recent budgets (FY23–FY25) were the strongest in the post–Proposal A era but still leave the state underfunded by billions according to research.
On infrastructure, Rice cited a recent estimate that traditional public districts require roughly $22.8 billion in capital investments over the next 10 years (about $2.3 billion per year on average). He urged the Legislature to consider mechanisms to assist districts that cannot afford local millages or sinking funds.
Provenance: Rice’s presentation and follow-up questioning on special education revenue/expenditure and infrastructure needs (transcript blocks s=1334.105 through s=1469.8049).
