Oxford Community Schools will be able to use the new state funding for staffing to help traumatized students, as well as for repairs to the high school in the wake of the deadly shooting.
Tax cut season descends again in Lansing. On the same day the governor calls for $500 rebates to families, Republicans seek wider cuts to income taxes, $500 child tax credit and more.
The Democratic governor and GOP lawmakers have competing proposals to trim taxes as Michigan is flush with cash. All say they’d help working families, but who would get most help?
Michigan House Republicans have proposed lowering the income tax rate for workers and retirees — a plan that could cost the state roughly $2 billion per year.
More than $1 billion in federal COVID relief funds will be used for school COVID test kits and additional state lab capacity, less than a month after schools ran dangerously low on supplies.
Schools are battling teacher shortages, mental health concerns and more. Gov. Whitmer said she wants to make “bold investments” in education with billions of additional dollars in state and federal funds. Republicans say they are eager to talk, but wary of the tab.
Gretchen Whitmer’s $74 billion budget would be by far the largest in state history. But problems with roads, schools, infrastructure and broadband have been years in the making and became worse in the pandemic.
Under the governor’s budget proposal being announced Wednesday, Michigan students would reap huge benefits from billions of dollars in state surplus and federal COVID relief funds.
Tax relief. Historic school funding increases. More money for mental health. Gov. Whitmer’s pledges in her fourth State of the State align with some Republican priorities. Can they find common ground?
Great Lakes Now’s Gary Wilson recently spoke with Debra Shore who shared thoughts on the Benton Harbor water crisis, her views on next steps to deal with Lake Erie’s long-standing algae bloom problems and the billion-dollar windfall the region will receive from the infrastructure bill.
The once-in-a-generation legislation promises to bring more than $10 billion in public works aid to Michigan, a state in dire need of upgrades to roads, dams and bridges, drinking water systems and other protections against climate change.
The list of needs is long — mental health services, blight, sewers — as counties and municipalities begin debating how to spend their share of $4.37 billion as part of federal COVID stimulus.
