The lieutenant governor and some Lansing lawmakers passed out lunches to elementary school students in the capital city Tuesday. While the Democratic policymakers served meals, the appearance itself served as a platform to talk about the next state budget.
Negotiations between the Democratic majority in the Michigan Senate and the Republican-led Michigan House of Representatives have been going on for months, seemingly without much progress.
When it comes to funding K-12 schools, House Republicans are sticking to their plan that would give schools a bigger overall sum of money than what the Senate or governor’s office proposed and more freedom on how to spend it. Schools could use that extra money, which would come from one-time dollars, to pay for free meals or other services if they choose.
The Senate and governor’s office want to direct how schools spend some of their money, to ensure programs, including free meals for students, don’t get cut.
Lansing School District Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said it would be nice to have more leeway. But he said some of those directed spending areas should be preserved.
“You want to think when you're creating a school budget, you have this wonderful baseline that's going to support everybody. And then look at different populations that extra support. Something like special education, something like (English Language Learner) services, those are things that we want,” Shuldiner said.
Likewise, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said free meals are too important to risk losing in budget talks.
“This is a foundational program to ultimately the educational success that we need, the community success, the economic success that we need. Laying this foundation, taking this off the table I think is really important. So that’s what we want to see,” Gilchrist told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
At least one district has already stopped providing free school meals because of budget uncertainty. The Michigan Department of Education is urging schools to continue providing free meals at least through the end of the month, when the state’s fiscal year rolls over.
With that deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown looming, state Representative Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) said it’s Democrats’ job to hold the line in defending what they see as essential resources.
“There really is no excuse to letting a sense of competition or political theater to get in the way of getting our kids the food they need to make it through the day,” Dievendorf said Tuesday.
In early July, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) told reporters that he had offered a school funding deal that did protect spending on school lunches. But Democrats were reluctant to take the deal, in part because they hadn’t seen a full budget plan from the House.
Last week, House Republicans released and voted out their overall government funding plan. The move set the stage for deeper budget talks between the House, Senate and governor’s office.
Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer is currently overseas on a trade mission to Japan and Singapore. But Whitmer’s camp said she’s still active in negotiations.
“Governor Whitmer remains committed to signing a fully negotiated, bipartisan budget that lowers costs and continues cutting taxes for working families and seniors. That's why the governor met with Senate Majority Leader (Winnie) Brinks and Speaker Hall last week, and why she has met other key decision-makers in the legislature each week since July 1. Our teams have been in daily communication to move forward on a budget,” Whitmer spokesperson Stacey LaRouche said in a written statement Tuesday.
Both chambers of the Legislature will be in Lansing Wednesday to hold session.
The Michigan Public Radio Network's Rick Pluta contributed reporting.
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