I hope you have been doing well and had a great week. I am sure spring will get here eventually! In this update, I will be going over my upcoming community events and talking about the School Aid budget that I have been working on in Lansing. If you have any thoughts or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Sincerely,

Regina Weiss

State Representative

6th House District

Community Conversations

I have two upcoming community conversations where I hope to see you. These are a great informal opportunity for constituents to come talk with me in-person and share any thoughts or concerns they have. Date, time and location can be found below. Please follow my Facebook page to stay informed on my upcoming community events.

  • May 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Park Public Library, 14200 Oak Park Blvd., Oak Park, MI 48237
  • May 15 at 6 p.m. at the Tindal Activity Center, 10301 W. Seven Mile Road, Detroit, MI 48221

School Aid Budget Update

This term, I was selected to lead the School Aid and Michigan Department of Education Appropriations Subcommittee in the House. I am extremely excited and humbled to be given the opportunity to shape how funding for our K-12 education system is distributed. This week, we passed the School Aid budget out of the full Appropriations Committee, and it now awaits a vote on the House floor. Highlights from my budget include a 4% increase in the per-pupil funding each student receives, an increase of funding for at risk students to over $1 billion overall, fully funding the special education foundation costs for students, historic first-time funding for transportation costs, debt relief for financially distressed districts, universal school breakfast and lunch, expanding the Great Start Readiness Program, and moving to a two-year counting blend to provide more budgeting stability for districts.

While we were able to do some great things with this budget, Michigan schools remain underfunded and have been so for decades. We need to seriously look at establishing new revenue sources to ensure that all Michigan children receive the resources they need to be successful. We are working on that process for future budgets and welcome any ideas for how we can provide adequate and equitable funding for our schools.