On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cited reports to the state’s student safety tip line in 2023, which show alleged criminal and threatening behaviors up 31% over 2022,

“As we see increasing reports of suicide, bullying, drugs, assault, and self-harm, we must keep investing in mental support for our kids,” Whitmer said in a statement.

Two days later, the governor signed a record $82.5 billion 2025 state budget that cuts school safety and mental health funding by more than $300 million, while keeping per-pupil funding flat for the first time since 2011.

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

Cheboygan Republican Rep. Cam Cavitt noted that the last time Republicans approved a budget in 2022, it included $150 million for school mental health grants, $168 million in school safety grants, $25 million to fund school resource officers, and $2 million for the School Safety and Mental Health Commission. In total, the budget passed in 2022 totaled $345 million for student safety and mental health.

Two years later, the second budget approved by a Democratic majority elected in 2022 includes just $26.5 million for those same items, a reduction of more than 90%.

For Cavitt’s constituents the shift will cut school safety funding by nearly $2.4 million, with six figure losses in three districts. In other places, it’s much more.

“With one signature, the governor left kids across Northeast Michigan less safe and without critical mental health resources,” Cavitt said in a statement. “Democrats will stop at nothing to bankroll their radical agenda. Our teachers will suffer. Our kids are going to suffer.”

Go Ad-Free, Get Content, Go Premium Today - $1 Trial

According to the 2023 Annual Report for Michigan’s nationally recognized OK2SAY program, the state received 9,686 tips spanning 30 categories involving student safety and mental health issues, including 1,769 that involved bullying, 1,482 dealing with suicide, 1,286 about drugs, 815 regarding sexual assault or exploitation, and 741 detailing threats to individuals.

“Other findings include 24 tips involving the confiscation of weapons and 77 tips resulting in the seizure of drugs or alcohol. Additionally, 236 schools conducted a comprehensive behavioral threat assessment and/or a suicide assessment because of an OK2SAY tip,” according to a Michigan State Police press release.

Michigan school officials, and the Michigan Education Association that helped elect the Democratic legislative majority, have raised serious concerns about addressing those issues with 90% less funding, particularly when Democrats declined to boost base funding.

Northville Public Schools Superintendent RJ Webber told the Detroit Free Press the budget decisions left him “absolutely baffled,” while Livonia Public Schools Superintendent Andrea Oquist was “stunned.”

“The zero per-pupil foundational increase is unreal to me,” Webber said. “Seeing that was awful.”

“At a time when schools have made a commitment to school safety and security and mental health supports for kids, the idea that we would take that from $214 a pupil to $17 a pupil, truly a 98% decrease next year is hard to fathom right now,” Oquist added.

“There will, unfortunately, be consequences of this misguided budget felt in every school across Michigan,” wrote Robert McCann, executive director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan, in a statement.

The MEA and other education leaders are now lobbying lawmakers to boost school safety funding in a supplemental budget, according to Chalkbeat Detroit.

“I think districts are trying right now to understand the impact of the state budget and then figure out how they can patch things together to continue services for student mental health and safety without a dedicated funding source – but also pay for wage increases for teachers and staff,” said Dan Behm, executive director of the Education Advocates of West Michigan, which represents 45 districts.

“Our hope is that state lawmakers return after the summer break to pass a supplemental budget that funds these critical student mental health and safety priorities,” MEA President Chandra Madafferi said in a statement.

“Without additional funding through a supplemental budget,” Madafferi argued, “our state risks falling short of providing the quality public education that every student deserves and needs.”

While school fret about how they’ll make up the $302 million cut to school safety and mental health funding, more than $334 is flowing to lawmakers’ pet projects, mostly in Democratic areas of the state.

The pork spending includes a $1 million ski jump in Ironwood, $17 million for zoos in Detroit and Lansing, $1.5 million for Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, $1 million for the Lansing Lugnuts baseball stadium, $2 million for Hamtramck’s Negro League Field, $2 million for a Detroit boxing gym, and $3.2 million for land on Mackinac Island, Bridge Michigan reports.

Millions more was directed by Democrats to drones, electric vehicle chargers, e-bike incentives, legal services for “asylum seekers,” “free” tampons, and other nonsense.

“Gretchen Whiter has a track record of passing policies that only hurt Michiganders. This education budget is no different – it’s detrimental to our entire education system,” Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra said in a statement. “We must take back the House this November so we can get to work on drafting policies that will help our hardworking students and teachers.”