State Rep. Sarah Lightner today highlighted the devastating effect the budget is going to have on local school districts, which are facing critical cuts to school safety and mental health funding.

Lightner, R-Springport, opposed the budget, which cut per-pupil school safety grants by 92%, leaving only $26.5 million after a $300 million cut.

“These drastic cuts strip our schools of the resources they need to keep our children safe,” Lightner said. “We need to invest in our schools, not strip them of the resources they desperately need. Our kids’ futures depend on it.”

New data compiled by the House Fiscal Agency illustrates how much funding local school districts and charter schools are set to lose, based on the latest school count numbers:

The budget also provides no increase to core per-pupil school funding for the first time since 2011.

The Michigan Education Association, a union for teachers and school employees, has called for the Legislature to pass a supplemental spending bill to reverse the cut to the school security and mental health distribution.

The cuts were included in the budget negotiated between the governor and the Democrats who control the Legislature. The education budget passed the Legislature along purely partisan lines.

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