EdTrust-Midwest’s three-point action plan aims to put Michigan back on track to becoming a Top 10 Education State

EdTrust-Midwest’s 2025 State of Michigan Education Report, Meeting the Moment, includes important new data and research on how Michigan leaders can meet the moment amid this turbulent period for public schools. In conjunction with the report, we issued a three-point “Opportunity for All Plan” to address the longstanding underinvestment in Michigan’s schools and place Michigan on track to be a Top 10 State for Education.

The Opportunity for All plan calls on state leaders to:

1. Invest Now, and Wisely
2. Implement Stronger Systems of Fiscal Transparency and Accountability
3. Innovate for the Future

Invest Now, and Wisely
Today, there are significant new opportunities to change Michigan’s trajectory and put it on course to catch up with leading states. The Opportunity Index –a transformative new funding structure that legislators placed into state law in 2023– has the potential to start addressing both the deep inequities of Michigan’s public school funding system and ensure investment for students who need it most, regardless of geographic location.

That could make a transformational difference for Michigan’s students because research shows that money matters in education, especially for students from low-income backgrounds.

In 2013, California implemented the Local Control Funding Formula and dramatically overhauled its school funding formula and committed $18 billion dollars over a period of eight years to be allocated based on students’ needs.13 In a 2023 evaluation of the Local Control Funding Formula, researchers found that an investment of just an additional $1,000 per pupil for three consecutive years improved students’ math and reading  achievement, reduced the likelihood of repeating a grade, decreased suspensions and expulsions, and increased the likelihood of high school graduation and college and career readiness.

California’s example demonstrates the power of substantial, targeted, and sustained investments to improve student achievement – a lesson Michigan policymakers would be wise to heed. Unfortunately, Michigan’s Opportunity Index is currently underfunded by more than $2 billion
dollars.

To start to make a transformational difference, state lawmakers should fund the Opportunity Index to the levels in state law in the next five years. State legislators should also ensure that the level of federal funding for vulnerable student groups is preserved amid any changes to the U.S. Department of Education.