Lansing Update: A First Look at the Next Proposed State Budget
Posted February 13, 2026
Governor Proposes Removal of School Safety & Meals Funding for Nonpublic Schools
Just a few months after signing a state budget with millions in school safety, mental health, and healthy meals for Michigan’s nonpublic schools, the Governor removed that funding from her proposal for the next state budget.
The executive budget recommendation presented this week for Fiscal Year 2027 follows a similar pattern from the past few years of the Governor beginning the budget process without critical funding streams that benefit Michigan’s 100,000-plus nonpublic students.
In the coming months, MCC will engage in conversations and advocacy with the Governor’s office and lawmakers to retain current funding levels for nonpublic schools in the next state budget.
Last year, following months of MCC advocacy, the Governor signed into law in October 2025 a bipartisan budget for this year that included $14 million in security improvement grants for nonpublic schools, $3.5 million for nonpublic schools to pay for school resource officers, and $3.5 million to provide mental health support services.
The current budget also included, for the first time, $1.6 million to ensure qualifying nonpublic schools could join the state’s expanded breakfast and lunch program.
However, the school meal funding, as well as $1 million to reimburse nonpublic schools for the cost of complying with state health and safety mandates, were omitted from the Governor’s new budget proposal.
The executive budget recommendation for next year did retain $600,000 that provides opportunities for nonpublic school students to participate in robotics competitions.
In the coming months, legislators in the House and Senate will propose and pass their own budget proposals, and both chambers and the Governor must come to a final agreement on the spending document that will cover Fiscal Year 2027, which begins October 1 of this year.
Like last year’s budget cycle, grassroots advocacy by Catholic school students, parents, teachers, and other supporters of nonpublic education will be helpful in communicating the importance of state funding for safety and security improvements at school buildings, mental health services and staff, and more.
The budget is required by law to be presented to the Governor by July 1, but last year a budget wasn’t passed until after the end of the fiscal year, which triggered a brief state government shutdown.
Executive Budget Continues Funding for Programs Helping Moms & Children
State funding to support mothers and children, as well as child welfare agencies that look after foster children, would continue under the Governor’s budget proposed for Fiscal Year 2027.
The $6.4 million diaper assistance program which MCC supports would continue at current funding levels. The grant program pays for diapering supplies for diaper assistance programs, maternity homes, local county offices, and other nonprofit agencies across the state that distribute diapers free of charge.
The executive budget recommendation also continues Rx Kids, a public and privately-funded program that provides direct cash assistance to pregnant women and babies in high-need communities. The state would continue a $20 million annual investment in the program under the budget proposal. In last year’s final budget, lawmakers provided Rx Kids an extra $250 million in addition to the ongoing $20 million. The program continues to expand to new communities, including to Detroit, in recent months.
The Governor’s proposed budget also maintains the current support for the state’s child welfare agencies, which includes Catholic Charities agencies that facilitate foster care and adoption cases. The budget would keep intact the current per-diem, per-child rate of $60.20, which provides the financial resources Catholic Charities need to support foster and adoptive parents and ensure care for foster children.
The proposed budget leaves intact several other funding items that help the poor and vulnerable in this state, including support for assistance of human trafficking victims, programs that aid homeless and runaway youth, and funding to support emergency housing and families experiencing homelessness.
MCC will monitor these as well as other funding items of interest in the budget that help provide for the poor and vulnerable in this state.
More Options for Public School Parents Under MCC-Backed Bill
Legislation to give parents of public school children more education options beyond their home school district received MCC support during a recent committee hearing.
House Bill 5310, sponsored by Rep. Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes) would require all public school districts in Michigan to accept applications from nonresident students and permit eligible applicants to fill available spots.
The legislation would mark the expansion of Michigan’s “schools of choice” program that allows parents to consider other school districts besides their home district. Under current law, school districts can opt out of receiving out-of-district students, but the bill would require all public schools to participate. Under the legislation, schools could still refuse enrollment to applicants who have been suspended or expelled from another school or convicted of a felony.
MCC supports policies like HB 5310 that promote education options for parents and families, in recognition of the Church’s teaching that parents are the primary educators of their children and best suited to direct their children’s education. As such, this legislation would allow parents of public school children to consider other public school options besides the district they reside in.
MCC also offered support to another bill in the package—House Bill 5312, sponsored by Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia)—which would prohibit public school districts from charging tuition to nonresident students.
The legislation received testimony only before the House Education Committee.
Archbishop: America Should Both Defend Borders, Create Immigration Pathways
After a series of tragic deaths related to federal immigration enforcement activities, Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger wrote an op-ed urging public officials to adopt meaningful immigration reform at the federal level.
In the op-ed, the Archbishop—who also serves as the chair of the MCC Board of Directors—observed that “it seems that Americans can only envision two options: Either open borders with no restraint, or closed borders with no immigration of any kind.”
Echoing the balanced tradition expressed in Catholic social teaching, Archbishop Weisenburger said “that dichotomy is a lie” and added, “it is quite possible to acknowledge, respect and defend our borders, while also creating a path for the same kind of immigration that brought many of our ancestors to this nation.”
The op-ed was first published in the Detroit Free Press and reposted at Detroit Catholic. To read more, click or tap here.
During Black History Month, Get to Know Black Catholics on Path to Sainthood
This month is Black History Month, which marks an opportune time to revisit or perhaps consider for the first time MCC’s Focus publication that celebrates African-American Catholics, including those who are candidates for possible canonization.
The publication provided six profiles of Black Catholics who are currently at different stages of the Church’s canonization process. The Church does not “create saints” but merely recognizes that some individuals, by the example of their lives and their heavenly intercession, are already enjoying the beatific vision.
Since the Focus on African-American Catholics was published in 2021, one individual profiled—Mother Mary Lange—was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis in 2023, a formal recognition from the Holy Father of her heroic virtue.
For Mother Mary Lange to become beatified—or known as Blessed—a miracle must be verified to have occurred because of her intercession. A second verified miracle is required for formal canonization along with the title of Saint.
Another individual profiled in Focus—Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA—was recently in the news because her canonization cause was recently submitted by her local diocese to the Vatican for further review.
To read the Focus titled “With Gratitude for African-American Catholics,” please click or tap here for an online PDF or contact MCC to request print copies free of charge.