(The Center Square) – Public school enrollment is down in Michigan as the proposed 2025-26 fiscal budget promises more money for K-12.
Enrollment statewide has steadily declining for more a decade.
In newly-released data from Michigan School Data, total enrollment in all grades for the 2024-2025 school year was 1.4 million, down 0.2% from the previous school year. While one of the smallest percentage declines in recent years, 2024-2025 enrollment is 7.3% lower than 10 years ago. That’s more than 110,000 fewer students.
A few different factors likely contributed to the decline in enrollment, including a slow decline in the population, a decline in births over the past decade and a rise in home school or private school students.
This downward trend is expected to continue, especially as Michigan’s birth rate declines to levels not seen since the 1930s. According to a 2024 report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, from 2020 to 2050, Michigan’s school-age population is expected to fall from 1.58 million to 1.48 million children.
This will “fuel a continuation of a two-decades-long decline in the number of students enrolled in public schools,” potentially leading to school closures, especially as COVID-19 federal funding dries up.
Yet, even as enrollment has declined, K-12 spending has increased and test scores have lagged.
The 2024 “Nation’s Report Card” reported that Michigan fourth-grade math scores had only marginal improvement from 2022, while eighth-grade math and fourth- and eighth-grade reading scores declined slightly.
Across the state, the report found that 75% of fourth-graders cannot read proficiently, while 63% aren’t proficient in math. Of eighth-graders, 76% cannot read proficiently and aren’t proficient in math. This puts Michigan students behind many other states and down significantly from students’ proficiency rates ten years ago.
Though additional federal funding is ending, the state education budget is growing. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said increasing school funding is a top priority for her 2025-2026 fiscal year budget proposal.
“Since taking office, I’ve been working hard to put Michigan kids first – and that starts with education,” she said. “This year’s budget will invest, expand, and support programs that benefit our kids from pre-k all the way to higher education. Let’s get this done!”
The fiscal year 2025-2026 budget recommendations include record-high K-12 education spending, increasing spending per K-12 student to $10,000 yearly, a $392 increase from the previous year.
It also proposes $200 million to continue funding free school breakfasts and lunches, $676 million to expand free Pre-K to every four-year-old in Michigan, and additional funding for free community college, technical programs, scholarships, and placement testing.
According to the budget, these “historic investments in education and . . . increases will help schools create a learning environment that prepares students for the future.”
Yet, some are skeptical that more spending will solve the state’s K-12 education issues.
“More money doesn’t equal better results,” said the Mackinac Center, reporting on the percentage decline of testing over the past few years, even as spending per pupil has increased.
Other groups like EdTrust-Midwest have supported the push for more funding, calling for upwards of $2 billion annually to address these trends.
“Michigan’s continued lagging performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress is proof positive that we need to act now to ensure our students have the resources and support for educational recovery and acceleration,” said Jennifer Mrozowski, senior director for external relations and strategic communications for EdTrust. “This can’t wait.”
