reduce class sizes • expand career & technical education • recruit & retain high quality educators

State Board of Education joins Grand Rapids Education Association, Detroit Federation of Teachers, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and 100+ local elected officials, small business owners, and community organizations in endorsing the ballot measure.

Momentum has been growing two months after initiative’s launch in response to federal shutdown and Michigan budget cuts.

LANSING, MI — The Michigan State School Board of Education voted yesterday afternoon by a 5-2 margin to endorse the ballot proposal, Invest in MI Kids. The endorsement comes at a time with extreme uncertainty in education funding from the federal level and after K-12 education funding lost hundreds of millions in dollars from the recently adopted Michigan state budget. This ballot initiative would raise over $1 billion in funding for Michigan schools by raising a nominal fair share surcharge on income taxes that affect less than 1% of the wealthiest filers in Michigan. 

“Michigan schools have been underfunded for decades,” said Dr. Mitchell Robinson, Member of the State Board of Education. “The ballot initiative Invest In MI Kids is a meaningful effort to provide secure, stable revenue for K12 funding. Just one small dollar invested in our kids’ education pays off tenfold down the line for the future of our communities.” 

“As teachers, we know that our students deserve nothing but the best. Small class sizes and safe buildings will help our students learn. But right now, Michigan schools are falling behind,” said Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. “By having less than 1% of our state’s wealthiest individuals start to pay their fair share, we can finally start to catch up.”

About two months after launching, organizers say that increased concerns around the education budget at both the state and federal levels has led to a surge of support.

“Even before these budget cuts, Michigan public schools were 4.5 billion dollars underfunded with oversized classrooms, and thousands of educators leaving the profession every year,” said Molly Sweeney, Invest in MI Kids Steering committee member. “Now, partisan gridlock resulted in our K-12 schools losing $400 million in funding in this year’s state budget. It’s time for voters to take matters into our own hands and make sure our kids get the funding they need to succeed. By adopting this ballot measure, we can build a better Michigan with full funding restored to our schools.”

Over 100 small business owners, policy experts, elected officials, and community organizations are supportive of the measure, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the Grand Rapids Education Association, the Michigan PTA, the School Boards of Avondale, East Lansing, and Benton Harbor, and the Michigan League for Public Policy. Local elected officials in places including Iron Mountain, Rogers City, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, East Lansing, and Detroit have also all endorsed the measure. A full list of endorsements is available here.

“A strong community depends on a strong public educational system,” said Rachel Blistein, a small business owner. “Our teachers and students deserve our support.”

“By asking our wealthiest residents to contribute a modest additional share, this amendment directs dedicated funds straight to classrooms—supporting smaller class sizes, career and technical education, and the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers,” said Dr. Tonya Whitehead, president of the Michigan PTA. “Our children deserve stable, long-term investment, and this measure delivers exactly that.”

“We can't get the years back for them when we don't invest in their education now,” said US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. “They deserve to be a priority.”

The proposed ballot initiative would add a modest 5% surcharge on income over $1 million (or $500,000 for individuals). Currently, billionaires currently pay the same state tax rate as teachers. Under this proposal, no one with taxable income below these thresholds would be subject to the surcharge. These new funds would be constitutionally protected and explicitly directed toward:

• Reducing class size
• Retaining and recruiting educators
• Career and technical education
• 
  

Advocates say that they were inspired by successful efforts in other states, including Massachusetts, to adopt similar measures. Activists anticipate support to continue to grow as the ramifications of reduced school funding from the statewide and federal budgets are felt.

Invest in MI Kids is a grassroots coalition of parents, educators, small business owners, and community leaders coming together to pass a ballot initiative that would provide Michigan schools with over $1 billion in annual funding by applying a fair share surcharge to Michigan’s millionaires. We believe that every student, regardless of their income or background, deserves a high-quality, well-resourced public education. Learn more at: https://investinmikids.org/

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