M-STEP scores underscore urgency to pass a School Aid Budget that prioritizes students with the greatest needs 

Michigan’s 2024-2025 M-STEP results released Wednesday again demonstrated wide opportunity gaps among Michigan’s students, underscoring the urgent need to prioritize support for our students and schools. That support should start with passing a School Aid budget that invests more in Michigan’s students, particularly those with the greatest needs.

Yet Lawmakers remain deadlocked in School Aid Budget negotiations, leaving school districts with little certainty about their school funding revenue at a time when the Trump administration has signaled plans to cut federal support for public schools.

“These scores should be a wakeup call to policymakers,” said Jennifer Mrozowski, Senior Director, Strategic Communications and External Relations for EdTrust-Midwest. “Our students, particularly those who have long been underserved by the education system, need their support. It’s time to double down on investments for students with the greatest needs and create transparent fiscal and accountability systems to ensure the funding for those students reaches them in their schools and classrooms.” 

An analysis of the assessment data by EdTrust-Midwest showed that students who are underserved continue to perform below their wealthier peers, contributing to longstanding opportunity gaps in education. Consider that more than half of third grade students (55.7%) from higher-income backgrounds scored proficient or advanced in reading, while only 25.7% of students from low-income backgrounds scored proficient or advanced.  

EdTrust-Midwest’s analysis of the M-STEP data also revealed deeper opportunity gaps, with Black and Latino students, as well as multilingual learners and students with disabilities, scoring lower than white peers on the third grade reading assessment. 

EdTrust-Midwest is a Michigan nonprofit organization that conducts research and advocates for policies to address barriers in the education system for students who are underserved. Alongside partners with the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity coalition, EdTrust-Midwest continues to urge state leaders to fully fund the Opportunity Index, which directs additional resources to districts based on their concentration of poverty.   

The coalition, which is a made up of a diverse, statewide, bipartisan group of leaders across sectors, also urges state leaders to protect categorical funding for English Learners, who have long lacked the support needed to reach their full academic potential. 

“We know that money matters in education, and research shows the benefits of targeted investments for students with the greatest needs,” she said. Research shows that an investment of just an additional $1,000 per pupil from low-income backgrounds 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.  

Alongside investments in public schools, new funding should be accompanied by transparent fiscal accountability systems to make sure school funds are spent on the students for whom the dollars are intended, Mrozowski added. Michigan lacks such a system today, which leaves parents and stakeholders in the dark about whether dollars are being spent on research-backed strategies to raise student outcomes.  

“We also urge lawmakers to invest in early literacy strategies to implement last year’s landmark Reading for All legislation to support students with dyslexia. That’s particularly important as Michigan continues to face an early reading crisis,” Mrozowski said, lauding policymakers for working together to pass the legislation. “Our students, particularly those with the greatest needs, lag leading states in early reading, a foundational skill for students that sets the stage for their school journey.”  

The data also showed significant opportunity gaps in math. Statewide, only one-third of 7th grade math students are proficient in math. Black and Latino students, students from low-income backgrounds, English Learners, and students with disabilities all fall more than 10 percentage points below the statewide math proficiency rate. Approximately one in five Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds are proficient in math. For Black students and English Learners, proficiency falls to one in ten students. Only 7.6% of students with disabilities show proficiency in 7th grade math.  

Additionally, fewer Michigan 7th graders scored advanced or proficient in math in 2025 than before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the EdTrust-Midwest analysis showed. 

“Michigan has significant work to do to address these longstanding gaps in opportunity,” Mrozowski said. “Now is the moment to put aside partisanship and put students first.”