News Release:
Catholic Schools, Residents in Need to Benefit from Final State Budget
MCC Advocacy Preserves and Strengthens Prior Year Funding Levels
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 22, 2026
(Lansing, Mich.)—After months of legislative advocacy, Michigan Catholic Conference is grateful for a final state budget that supports residents in need and includes appropriations to benefit Catholic and other nonpublic schools statewide. The budget, which allocates resources for the 2026–2027 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, was signed into law yesterday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“Over the course of several months, Legislative and grassroots advocacy helped to ensure that millions of dollars in existing funding for nonpublic school students would continue into next year, along with increased funding and new streams of support,” said Paul Stankewitz, policy advocate for MCC. “Catholic advocacy also resulted in continued funding for Catholic and other nonprofit agencies that provide services in local communities to individuals and families in need.”
According to the state spending plan, nonpublic schools in Michigan—which educate more than 100,000 students across the state—will have access to $21 million for school safety purposes, including grants for building security improvements and funds to hire school resource officers and mental health counselors. The funding matches $21 million allocated to nonpublic schools in the current year budget.
Lawmakers also approved up to $3 million to extend the state’s school meal program to more eligible nonpublic schools, an increase over the current amount of $1.6 million. The program makes breakfast and lunch available to all students in participating schools, regardless of family income, which is the same eligibility standard for public schools.
The budget further makes nonpublic schools eligible for new teachers who received state support toward their teaching education or who receive a state stipend for fulfilling their student-teacher assignment. For several years, the state has sought to increase the number of teachers by providing fellowships to offset tuition for students attending college preparation programs, as well as stipends for serving as student teachers.
However, under existing program constraints, new teachers would have to repay the fellowship if they initially worked in a nonpublic school after receiving their teaching degree and would only receive a stipend if they fulfilled their student teacher assignment in a public school. After years of engagement with lawmakers, the new budget lifts these restrictions.
MCC continually advocates for nonpublic students and families while mindful of constitutional restrictions on state aid to nonpublic schools. In recent years, the Legislature and the Governor—regardless of political affiliation or legislative majority—have approved budgets that include permissible health and safety funding for nonpublic schools. Despite legal challenges, the funding has been upheld by the courts. The Fiscal Year 2027 budget will continue longstanding support for nonpublic students by:
Providing schools with reimbursement for the cost of complying with state-mandated health and safety regulations.
Allowing nonpublic students to earn college credits while in high school through dual enrollment programs.
Maintaining a grant program that allows nonpublic student participation in elective robotics competitions to improve their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills.
The state budget becomes law following several months of spending negotiations between the Governor, state House, and state Senate.
During those months, MCC policy advocates met frequently with key Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staff in both chambers to share the importance of supporting all students when it comes to matters of school safety, student nutrition, and more.
Along with the Michigan Association of Nonpublic Schools (MANS), MCC also arranged meetings earlier this year between lawmakers and nonpublic school leaders, which allowed for administrators to directly share their students’ needs, such as the importance of continued investment into school security.
“Regardless if you're in a public school or nonpublic school, our most prized possession is our children, and we want them to be safe, we want them to feel secure, and we want them to feel loved,” said Mandy Wildern, associate superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Lansing, who along with other nonpublic school leaders shared the importance of continued state support for school safety funding in a video produced by MCC. “These funds allow us to create a safe and secure environment for our students.”
In addition to supporting nonpublic schools, MCC has long maintained that the state budget is a moral statement, one that should indicate the priority of policymakers to care for the most vulnerable in society. Catholic teaching holds that helping the poor and needy should be among the state’s priorities in an effort to advance the common good.
Each budget cycle, MCC advocates for those on the margins through budget programs that support Catholic Charities agencies and other organizations affiliated with the Church that carry out in local communities Christ’s command to care for the poor.
As a result, MCC commends lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle for continuing in the next state budget a program that provides diapers free-of-charge to families in need, and for maintaining the current level of state-provided support for agencies that care for foster children and serve foster families. The budget also continues funding for agencies that serve homeless and runaway youth, including a Catholic entity that provides assistance to youth in crisis in southwest Michigan.
MCC published an edition of Focus earlier this year that provides more details about social service policies of interest to MCC and the impact they have had on individuals. To read further, visit micatholic.org/supportforfamilies.
In its public policy advocacy on behalf of the Church, MCC works to secure funding in the state budget to support the Church’s ministries that serve Michigan families and children in need. The new edition of Focus shares specific examples of how state funding secured by MCC helped programs that assist families in need of diapers, parents seeking to adopt and foster children, and homeless and runaway youth in crisis.
Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.
