Budget breakdown: How the FY26 School Aid Budget is Supporting Michigan’s Teachers

Teacher shortages impact communities across the state – from Monroe to Marquette – but we know that these challenges are not felt equitably. Indeed, an EdTrust-Midwest report found that students of color and students from low-income backgrounds are less likely to have equitable access to highly qualified teachers. This matters deeply, as research shows that when it comes to student learning, teachers are two to three times more powerful than any other school-based factor. A strong teacher workforce has ripple effects on Michigan’s students, unlocking their potential to live full, productive lives.

Strengthening the teacher workforce doesn’t happen overnight. Through targeted investments in both our current and future teachers, lawmakers can make Michigan a top destination for teacher talent. In the Fiscal Year 26 budget, Michigan legislators invested in teachers through the following programs:

• MI Future Educator Fellowship Program: $25 million to offset tuition costs for college students earning their initial certification
• MI Future Educator Student Teaching Stipend Program: $50 million for payments to student teachers during their internship
• Grow Your Own Programs: $50 million for districts and ISDs to provide a no-cost pathway for support staff members to become certified teachers

Michigan’s equitable school funding model is another tool to invest in the teacher workforce. This year’s 25% increase in Opportunity Index funding – for a total $1.29 billion investment – means that students with the greatest needs are closer to getting the resources they deserve, including high-quality teachers.

The Opportunity Index — created in 2023 as one of the earliest state funding models to use an index that accounts for student poverty — targets additional at-risk dollars to school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty. The Opportunity Index includes provisions which allow districts to use their at-risk funds to address teacher shortages. Up to 30% of funds can be used to reduce K-3 class sizes. For districts in Opportunity Index Bands 5 and 6, where 73% to 100% of students are from low-income backgrounds, an additional 30% of Opportunity Index funds can be used for teacher recruitment and retention efforts, in recognition of the unique challenges that these districts may face in hiring qualified and experienced teachers.

As Michigan faces a teacher shortage crisis that is most deeply felt in districts that enroll high populations of students with the greatest needs, it’s important for policymakers to increasingly support efforts to attract and retain teachers. This budget takes steps in the right direction, but there is far more to do.

Read about EdTrust-Midwest’s recommendations in our January 2025 report, Closing the Opportunity Divide: Addressing Michigan’s Teacher Shortage Problem for Students Most in Need.

This is part of a series by EdTrust-Midwest digging into the details of the FY 26 School Aid Budget.