LANSING, Mich., June 13, 2025 — House Democrats introduced their vision for the School Aid budget this week during a publicly accessible press conference, in an effort to jump start negotiations ahead of the July 1 statutory deadline for the budget’s completion. Under pressure from House Dems, House Republicans finally took a second try at their own education budgets, only to continue proposing cuts to programs and services students and schools rely on. They proposed massive cuts to Michigan’s public universities, originally proposing to cut over $800 million in state funding. Unable to secure the votes, House Republicans released an updated budget that still cuts millions from higher education, including a $56.6 million cut for Michigan State University.
After voting against the Republican bills that defund critical categorical K-12 school investments and massively cut state funding for MSU, state Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Twp.) issued the following statement:
“Michigan is home to some of the world’s top public universities, which provide high-quality education for thousands of students and good paying jobs for Michiganders across the state. MSU, right in my district, would be particularly hit hard by these cuts. House Republicans’ cutting of critical investments jeopardize the stability and well-being of these schools at the expense of Michigan students. They know it: in fact, Republicans are so ashamed of this budget, they couldn’t even get the votes to pass their first terrible plan and gave us less than 30 minutes to read their next terrible plan before they voted to pass it. Our universities deserve better than this, our students deserve better than this, Michigan deserves better than this. I will continue fighting for our Spartan community — I urge my colleagues across the aisle to come to the negotiating table so we can deliver for the public universities that contribute so much to our state and residents.”
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