Education looms large for the next governor. How will Benson or James address funding?
Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat’s valuable education coverage at the top of your feeds by clicking here and checking the box next to our name. Michigan’s gubernatorial candidates want to turn around the state’s education crisis but have vastly different approaches to doing so, including on how Michigan schools are funded Republican John…
Two Republican candidates for governor, John James and Brian Benson, have different approaches to improving Michigan's education system. James emphasizes parental rights and accountability, proposing to eliminate district overhead costs to fund skilled trades and arts education. He supports President Trump's Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, which allows taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 to scholarship-granting organizations for private school tuition, tutoring, and other educational expenses.
Benson, on the other hand, is skeptical of the tax credit program and advocates for a more data-driven and results-focused education system. He calls for extending free early education to 3- and 4-year-olds, increasing teacher salaries to $60,000, finding additional funding, and continuing the weighted funding model started by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The weighted school funding model allocates more resources to districts with students who require additional support. Despite record funding in K-12 education under Whitmer's administration, the per-pupil grant has not kept up with inflation, according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis. The minimum per-pupil allowance was $10,300 in the 2027 budget year, a 2.9% decrease from 2019 when adjusted for inflation.
Whitmer's spokesperson acknowledged the record investments but also acknowledged that inflation has offset some of those increases.
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