The Senate budget bill includes a $10 million increase for Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program, a strategy shown to improve educational equity. Take Action by contacting your legislators and urging them to support the Senate-passed $10 million increase and to set-aside at least 20% of the new money to support young children from birth through age three and their families.  Our Action Alert has more details and talking points.

The House budget reinstates $5 million for before- and after-school pilot programs, but the Senate failed to include any funding. Take Action and ask your legislators to support the House funding for extended learning opportunities, a strategy proven to shrink equity gaps!  See our Action Alert for more details on before- and after-school programming as well as talking points.

Our latest Budget Basics report – The Fiscal Year 2013 State Budget: The Impact of Current Decisions on Youth – Which Decisions Have Been Made, and Which Remain In Play  – highlights youth provisions in the final budget bills that were approved by the House and Senate the last week of April. As anticipated, the House rolled up all of its budget bills into two omnibus bills – one for Education (HB 5372) including School Aid, Community Colleges, and Higher Education; and the department budgets into another omnibus budget bill (HB 5365). The Senate kept each budget bill separately. The final House and Senate budget bills are highlighted in our latest Budget Basics report including differences that will be negotiated in conference committees.

In the last week of April, both the House and Senate passed out all of their fiscal year 2013 budgets. As anticipated, the House rolled up all of its budget bills into two omnibus bills – one for Education (HB 5372) including School Aid, Community Colleges, and Higher Education; and the department budgets into another omnibus budget bill (HB 5365). The Senate kept each budget bill separately. Points of difference between the House and Senate budgets will now be debated in conference committee. Our latest Budget Basics updates highlight the House and Senate budget bills by department.