Fiscal Transparency and Accountability for Spending 

Appropriate funding and resources for students to have access to an excellent education is necessary, but alone it is not enough.  

To improve student learning and outcomes, those resources must also be spent efficiently and effectively to drive improved learning outcomes. Michigan lacks a system which allows the public to evaluate easily if dollars targeted to students from specific backgrounds are reaching those students at the school level and the effectiveness of spending at the school level for impact on student learning.  

An important first step toward more equitable student funding in Michigan is directing any new additional resources first towards high-needs schools and districts. The state must also ensure that the necessary legal and regulatory frameworks are in place to ensure these additional dollars get to the schools where students with greater needs attend and are spent in ways that improve classroom learning. 

 Transforming Michigan’s funding structure should be accompanied with a strong new system of transparency regarding school and district spending that is desperately lacking today. The Education Trust-Midwest is committed to championing policies and practices ensuring that resources targeted for students with the greatest needs actually reach their schools.