NEW: Whitmer plans to propose ‘record high' per-pupil funding in FY 2026 budget proposal
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to propose 'record high' per-pupil funding in her upcoming budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, her office told the Michigan Advance.
The current FY 2025 School Aid budget, which totals $23.4 billion, includes a foundation allowance of $9,608 per pupil — the minimum amount that school districts receive. That caused considerable controversy, as Republicans pounced on the fact that there was no increase from the FY 2024 budget. However, Democrats who controlled the Legislature last term made the case that was augmented by legislation also signed by Whitmer that reduced school district contributions toward teacher retirement and uses excess money from the fund to supplement classroom needs, saving districts $598 million in payroll costs.
$83B state budget heads to Whitmer's desk after all-night session
Whitmer's office did not release the amount of the per-pupil increase that the governor will propose for the next fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, but said that she has increased the foundation allowance 'more than the last two governors [Democrat Jennifer Granholm and Republican Rick Snyder] combined.'
Whitmer's school budget proposal will include the 'SMART Plan' which focuses on Students, Metrics And Results with Transparency. In addition to boosting the per-pupil allowance, she is set to propose four other investments 'supported and inspired by Republicans and Democrats' that will boost student outcomes. Republicans have been sharply critical of the governor as Michigan has seen falling test scores since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her 'Road Ahead Address' delivered at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, Whitmer stressed her commitment to bipartisanship in a nod to the fact that the Legislature is now divided, with the GOP running the House and Democrats in control of the Senate.
'Every Michigan student deserves the resources they need to get a good-paying job and set themselves up for a bright future. And every Michigan family deserves to raise their kids in communities with world-class K-12 schools. That's why we must build on the progress we've made and get SMART on education,' Whitmer's office said in a document provided to the Advance.
Whitmer is planning to propose additional funding for new education transparency measures such as awarding districts for implementing best practices and increasing transparency around student outcomes for parents through a combination of direct reporting to parents, improved dashboards and board meetings to improve parental engagement.
The governor's FY 2026 proposal will double literacy grants to districts and provide additional funding to help them implement the new science of reading requirement; ensure each intermediate school district in Michigan has at least two literacy coaches for the first time in state history; and continue the Michigan Reading Corps and LETRS training for teachers.
Student mental health and school safety will receive what Whitmer's office called the 'largest amount of ongoing funding in Michigan's history' in her next budget plan. And finally, Whitmer will propose the 'largest career and technical education investment in Michigan history,' her office said.
Whitmer's office has not released a date for when her administration will present its FY 2026 budget proposal to the House and Senate Appropriation committees, although that typically is in February. This year, Whitmer is scheduled to give her annual State of the State address later than usual on Feb. 26.
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
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California voters will decide redistricting in November, escalating battle with Trump and Texas
Ratcheting up the pressure in the escalating national fight over control of Congress, the California Legislature on Thursday approved November special election to ask voters in November to redraw the state's electoral lines to favor Democrats and thwart President Trump's far-right policy agenda. The ballot measure, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and national Democratic leaders, is the latest volley in a national political brawl over electoral maps that could alter the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections and the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. If voters approve the redrawn lines on Nov. 4, Democrats in the Golden State would see the odds tilted further in their favor, while the number of California Republicans in the House could be halved. Newsom initially said that new electoral districts in California would only take effect if another state redrew its lines before 2031. But after Texas moved toward approving its own maps this week that could give the GOP five more House seats, Democrats stripped the so-called "trigger" language from the amendment — meaning that if voters approve the measure, the new lines would take effect no matter what. The ballot measure language, which asks California voters to override the power of the independent redistricting commission, was approved by most Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate, where they hold supermajorities. California lawmakers have the power to place constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot without the approval of the governor. Newsom, however, is expected later Thursday to sign two separate bills that fund the special election and spell out the lines for the new congressional districts. Democrats' rush to the ballot marks a sudden departure from California's 15-year commitment to independent redistricting, often held up as the country's gold standard. The state's voters stripped lawmakers of the power to draw lines during the Great Recession and handed that partisan power to a panel of independent citizens whose names are drawn in a lottery. The change, Democrats said, was forced by an extraordinary change in circumstances: After decades of the United States redrawing congressional lines once a decade, President Trump and his political team have leaned on Republican-led states to redraw their district lines before the 2026 midterm elections to help Republicans retain control of the House. 'His playbook is a simple one: Bully, threaten, fight, then rig the rules to hang onto power," said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. "We are here today because California will not be a bystander to that power grab. We are not intimidated, and we are acting openly, lawfully, with purpose and resolve, to defend our state and to defend our democracy.' Republicans in the state Assembly and the state Senate criticized Newsom's argument that Democrats must "fight fire with fire," saying retaliation is a slippery slope that would erode the independent redistricting process California voters have chosen twice at the ballot box. "You move forward fighting fire with fire, and what happens? You burn it all down," said Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). He said Trump was "wrong" to push Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw Texas' lines to benefit Republicans, and so was California's push to pursue the same strategy. State Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), who co-authored the bill drawing the proposed congressional districts, said Democrats had no choice but to stand up, given the harm the Trump administration has inflicted on healthcare, education, tariffs and other policies that affect Californians. 'What do we do? Just sit back and do nothing?" Gonzalez said. "Or do we fight back and provide some chance for our Californians to see themselves in this democracy?" Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) said the effort is "a corrupt redistricting scheme to rig California's elections" that violates the "letter and the spirit of the California constitution." "Democrats are rushing this through under the guise of urgency," Jones said. "There is no emergency that justifies this abuse of process.' Three Assembly Democrats did not vote in favor of the constitutional amendment. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano), who is running for Congress against Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) in the San Joaquin Valley, voted no. Progressive Caucus chair Alex Lee (D-San Jose), and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), did not vote. Democrats will face an unusual messaging challenge with the November ballot measure, said Matt Lesenyie, an assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach. The opponents of mid-decade redistricting are stressing that the measure would "disadvantage voters," he said, which is "wording that Democrats have primed Democrats on, for now two administrations, that democracy is being killed with a thousand cuts." "It's a weird, sort of up-is-down moment," Lesenyie said. How did we get here? Trump's political team began pressuring Abbott and Texas Republicans in early June to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts in the middle of the decade — which is very uncommon — to give Republicans a better shot at keeping the House in 2026. "We are entitled to five more seats," Trump later told CNBC. Some Texas Republicans feared that mid-decade redistricting could imperil their own chances of reelection. But within a month of the White House floating the idea, Abbott added the new congressional lines, which would stack the deck against as many as five Texas Democrats in Congress, to the Legislature's special session in July. By mid-July, Newsom was talking about California punching back. In an interview with the progressive news site the TN Holler, Newsom said: "These guys, they're not f—ing around. They're playing by a totally different set of rules." Democrats in Texas fled the state for nearly two weeks, including some to California, to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the new lines. Abbott signed civil arrest warrants and levied fines on the 52 absent Democrats while they held news conferences in California and Illinois to bring attention to the fight. While the Texas drama unfolded, consultants for the campaign arm of House Democrats in California quietly drew up maps that would further chop down the number of Golden State Republicans in Congress. The proposed changes would eliminate the district of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and dilute the number of GOP voters in four districts represented by Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Darrell Issa. The Democrats agreed to return to Texas last week and pointed to California's tit-for-tat effort as one measure of success, saying the Golden State could neutralize any Republican gains in Texas. Since then, other Republican-led states have begun to contemplate redistricting too, including Indiana, Florida and Missouri. Trump's political allies are publicly threatening to mount primary challenges against any Indiana Republican who opposes redrawing the lines. In California, the opposition is shaping up as quickly as the ballot measure. California voters received the first campaign mailer opposing the ballot measure a day before the Legislature voted to approve it. A four-page glossy flier, funded by conservative donor and redistricting champion Charlie Munger Jr., warned voters that mid-decade redistricting is "weakening our Democratic process" and "a threat to California's landmark election reform." Republicans have also gone to court to try and stop the measure, alleging in an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court that Democrats violated the state Constitution by ramming the bills through without following proper legislative procedure. The high court Wednesday rejected the petition. A wave of legal challenges are expected, not only in California but in any state that reconfigures congressional districts in the expanding partisan brawl. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) said Thursday morning that a lawsuit challenging the California ballot measure would be filed in state court by Friday evening. He said Republicans also plan to litigate the title of the ballot measure and any voter guide materials that accompany it. And, he said, if voters approve the new lines, "I believe we will have ample opportunity to set the maps aside in federal court." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
California voters will decide redistricting in November, escalating battle with Trump and Texas
SACRAMENTO — Ratcheting up the pressure in the escalating national fight over control of Congress, the California Legislature on Thursday approved a November special election to ask voters to redraw the state's electoral lines to favor Democrats and thwart President Trump's far-right policy agenda. The ballot measure, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and national Democratic leaders, is the latest volley in a national political brawl over electoral maps that could alter the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections and the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. If voters approve the redrawn lines on Nov. 4, Democrats in the Golden State would see the odds tilted further in their favor, while the number of California Republicans in the House could be halved. Newsom initially said that new electoral districts in California would only take effect if another state redrew its lines before 2031. But after Texas moved toward approving its own maps this week that could give the GOP five more House seats, Democrats stripped the so-called 'trigger' language from the amendment — meaning that if voters approve the measure, the new lines would take effect no matter what. The ballot measure language, which asks California voters to override the power of the independent redistricting commission, was approved by most Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate, where they hold supermajorities. California lawmakers have the power to place constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot without the approval of the governor. Newsom, however, is expected later Thursday to sign two separate bills that fund the special election and spell out the lines for the new congressional districts. Democrats' rush to the ballot marks a sudden departure from California's 15-year commitment to independent redistricting, often held up as the country's gold standard. The state's voters stripped lawmakers of the power to draw lines during the Great Recession and handed that partisan power to a panel of independent citizens whose names are drawn in a lottery. The change, Democrats said, was forced by an extraordinary change in circumstances: After decades of the United States redrawing congressional lines once a decade, President Trump and his political team have leaned on Republican-led states to redraw their district lines before the 2026 midterm elections to help Republicans retain control of the House. 'His playbook is a simple one: Bully, threaten, fight, then rig the rules to hang onto power,' said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. 'We are here today because California will not be a bystander to that power grab. We are not intimidated, and we are acting openly, lawfully, with purpose and resolve, to defend our state and to defend our democracy.' Republicans in the state Assembly and the state Senate criticized Newsom's argument that Democrats must 'fight fire with fire,' saying retaliation is a slippery slope that would erode the independent redistricting process California voters have chosen twice at the ballot box. 'You move forward fighting fire with fire, and what happens? You burn it all down,' said Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). He said Trump was 'wrong' to push Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw Texas' lines to benefit Republicans, and so was California's push to pursue the same strategy. State Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), who co-authored the bill drawing the proposed congressional districts, said Democrats had no choice but to stand up, given the harm the Trump administration has inflicted on healthcare, education, tariffs and other policies that affect Californians. 'What do we do? Just sit back and do nothing?' Gonzalez said. 'Or do we fight back and provide some chance for our Californians to see themselves in this democracy?' Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-Santee) said the effort is 'a corrupt redistricting scheme to rig California's elections' that violates the 'letter and the spirit of the California constitution.' 'Democrats are rushing this through under the guise of urgency,' Jones said. 'There is no emergency that justifies this abuse of process.' Three Assembly Democrats did not vote in favor of the constitutional amendment. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano), who is running for Congress against Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) in the San Joaquin Valley, voted no. Progressive Caucus chair Alex Lee (D-San Jose), and Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay), did not vote. Democrats will face an unusual messaging challenge with the November ballot measure, said Matt Lesenyie, an assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach. The opponents of mid-decade redistricting are stressing that the measure would 'disadvantage voters,' he said, which is 'wording that Democrats have primed Democrats on, for now two administrations, that democracy is being killed with a thousand cuts.' 'It's a weird, sort of up-is-down moment,' Lesenyie said. Trump's political team began pressuring Abbott and Texas Republicans in early June to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts in the middle of the decade — which is very uncommon — to give Republicans a better shot at keeping the House in 2026. 'We are entitled to five more seats,' Trump later told CNBC. Some Texas Republicans feared that mid-decade redistricting could imperil their own chances of reelection. But within a month of the White House floating the idea, Abbott added the new congressional lines, which would stack the deck against as many as five Texas Democrats in Congress, to the Legislature's special session in July. By mid-July, Newsom was talking about California punching back. In an interview with the progressive news site the TN Holler, Newsom said: 'These guys, they're not f—ing around. They're playing by a totally different set of rules.' Democrats in Texas fled the state for nearly two weeks, including some to California, to deny Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the new lines. Abbott signed civil arrest warrants and levied fines on the 52 absent Democrats while they held news conferences in California and Illinois to bring attention to the fight. While the Texas drama unfolded, consultants for the campaign arm of House Democrats in California quietly drew up maps that would further chop down the number of Golden State Republicans in Congress. The proposed changes would eliminate the district of Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and dilute the number of GOP voters in four districts represented by Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Darrell Issa. The Democrats agreed to return to Texas last week and pointed to California's tit-for-tat effort as one measure of success, saying the Golden State could neutralize any Republican gains in Texas. Since then, other Republican-led states have begun to contemplate redistricting too, including Indiana, Florida and Missouri. Trump's political allies are publicly threatening to mount primary challenges against any Indiana Republican who opposes redrawing the lines. In California, the opposition is shaping up as quickly as the ballot measure. California voters received the first campaign mailer opposing the ballot measure a day before the Legislature voted to approve it. A four-page glossy flier, funded by conservative donor and redistricting champion Charlie Munger Jr., warned voters that mid-decade redistricting is 'weakening our Democratic process' and 'a threat to California's landmark election reform.' Republicans have also gone to court to try and stop the measure, alleging in an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court that Democrats violated the state Constitution by ramming the bills through without following proper legislative procedure. The high court Wednesday rejected the petition. A wave of legal challenges are expected, not only in California but in any state that reconfigures congressional districts in the expanding partisan brawl. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) said Thursday morning that a lawsuit challenging the California ballot measure would be filed in state court by Friday evening. He said Republicans also plan to litigate the title of the ballot measure and any voter guide materials that accompany it. And, he said, if voters approve the new lines, 'I believe we will have ample opportunity to set the maps aside in federal court.'
The Hill
27 minutes ago
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