School officials ‘appalled’ by Michigan budget cut to mental health, safety

Michigan school leaders say they are worried the new state budget deal will lead to reduced student mental health and safety services. Photo credit: tiero/iStock.

by Isabel Lohman (Bridge Michigan)

Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross hopes to hold on to two school workers — but new security cameras and additional training for staff on mindfulness and restorative practices will have to wait.

Zachery-Ross and other school district leaders across the state are weighing potential spending cuts after Michigan’s Democratic-led Legislature approved a budget that will reduce dedicated funding for student mental health and school safety from $328 million to $26.5 million.

Officials are still working to improve mental health and safety in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and school shootings, but “unless it’s critical, I’m not able to add that right now because the funds have been reduced,” Zachery-Ross told Bridge Michigan.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who negotiated the budget deal and is expected to sign it into law, says the spending plan includes other new pots of money that districts can still choose to spend on mental health and school safety.

The $23.4 billion plan for next year does not increase per-pupil funding for schools, but it cuts retirement fund obligations by a combined $598 million.

And those savings, legislators wrote into the budget, should ideally be used to “support student mental health, school safety, the educator workforce and academic interventions.”

But with a $301.5 million cut in dedicated funding to mental health and school safety initiatives, local education officials say they are concerned.

Northview Public Schools Superintendent Christina Hinds told Bridge Michigan she is “appalled” by the reduction.

“No one benefits from this drastic cut, especially at a time when our students are still recovering from the impact of the pandemic and the safety and security risk has not diminished,” she said in an email.

For this year, school districts received a share of the $328 million in dedicating mental health and safety funding based on how many students they had in their district. With only $26.5 million allocated for next year, superintendents now say they are bracing for cuts, but in some cases, acknowledge it’s too early to know exactly what those cuts will be.

In Ypsilanti, Zachery-Ross said the district used last year’s funding to pay for staff training, cybersecurity software to protect the district from online threats and a portion of the pay for a climate and culture coach and two social workers.

In a district with a lot of staff turnover, Zachery-Ross said she now worries that cutting down on those training opportunities will be detrimental to staff and students.

‘Game changers’

In recent years, school districts have heavily invested in school security efforts like security cameras and secure vestibules. They’ve also expanded mental health programming and hired staff to address student mental health concerns.

But demand for school safety funding has so far surpassed supply. In 2023, school districts requested a combined $45 million to hire school resource officers, for instance, but legislators had only allocated $25 million for the program. Seventy four applications were denied.

The state reduction in dedicated mental health and school safety funding comes as school districts are already bracing for the ‘COVID cliff.’ With federal pandemic aid expiring – which had provided about $5.6 billion to districts in recent years – officials are preparing to make difficult decisions.

Additionally, a three-year program designed to help school districts hire school counselors, psychologists, social workers and nurses expired too. Bridge Michigan previously reported school districts used the funds to hire the equivalent of 874 staffers in the first two years.

Brian Koetje, head of school at Allendale Christian School, said recent state spending on student mental health and safety were “game changers” for both public and private schools. He said he is committed to keeping social work services for students.

School safety is “such a critical item that I want to make sure that we don’t short our kids,” he told Bridge.

Tina Kerr, executive director of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, told Bridge she is hopeful the legislature will address concerns about the budget later this year.

Legislative intent, ongoing funding

To be sure, school districts can still use other state funding sources to pay for mental health and school safety programming. But the Senate, House and Executive budgets had all initially recommended additional funds for next year.

Still, Whitmer and legislative Democrats say the budget deal amounts to another major investment in state schools.

The plan provides “an additional $600 million in funding for districts, which gives schools the flexibility to use the funding to meet the needs of individual students in their area,” Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy said in a statement. “It is our intention that districts use this additional $600 million to improve school safety, mental health, before- and after-school programs, and more.”

Amber McCann, a spokesperson for House Speaker Joe Tate, said the state had previously used an influx of federal funding to boost school safety spending. But that was one-time money, she said, explaining why lawmakers decided to include closer to $25 million for next year.

That funding is now considered “ongoing,” and Democrats are “proud” of that commitment, added Rosie Jones, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks.

Michigan lawmakers and the governor have ramped up funds for school mental health and safety programming since the 2021 Oxford High school shooting. In the last pre-COVID school year, the state earmarked $25 million for school security technology and equipment.

The ‘greatest blow’

Steve St. Juliana, the father of one of the students who died in the Oxford shooting, told Bridge he still wants to see the state take a comprehensive look at all the different mental health and school safety programs in place to ensure they are evidence-based.

“The simple fact is that mental health resources alone in the state are so lacking,” he told Bridge. “And to say that they are cutting back on that spending, is concerning in and of itself.”

Jasen Witt, superintendent of Redford Union Schools, said “it’s shocking” to see a cut in dedicated funding, and that mental health and school safety needs “are real and they still all exist.”

Pamela Pugh, Democratic president of the State Board of Education, said in a statement “students and staff still deserve better” than the state budget approved by lawmakers.

The reduction in mental health funding is “the greatest blow,” she said. “This is at a time where we are seeing a persistent uptick in gun violence in many Michigan communities and at a time when students and families are still reeling from Oxford, MSU, and multiple mass shootings throughout the state.”

At Flat Rock Community Schools, Superintendent Andrew Brodie said his district primarily used this year’s funding for social work services and a school resource officer.

He is not planning to cut those positions this year, Brodie said. But the “bigger fear,” he said, is what happens after that.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.