Governor Gretchen Whitmer and state Senator Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) passed out school lunches in Kalamazoo Tuesday.
The press conference featured Kalamazoo Public Schools and state education officials. They highlighted what the officials saw as state education policy wins.
In recent years, Michigan has expanded its free school meal program, spent more on schools and literacy coaches, and changed its literacy curriculum to re-emphasize what state leaders frequently call the “science of reading.”
Despite the shifts, the latest test scores show slight declines in the percentage of students in the percentage of students in each grade from third through eighth who are reading and writing at grade level.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the struggles, which worsened dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, won’t change overnight.
“We’ve got to see it through. We can’t change courses every couple years and think we’re going to get results. It’s just confusing and creates disparate strategies that aren’t evidence based. We’re finally doing it right. But we’ve got to continue to stay focused and continue to do this work,” Whitmer told reporters.
This school year, the state is changing how it funds districts based on the number of “at-risk” students they serve.
Democrats and Republicans have supported many of those reforms. Still, Whitmer is facing criticism from Republicans who want her to opt in to a federal education program.
The “Federal Scholarship Tax Credit” offers tax breaks for donations to organizations that grant scholarships to low-income students. Those could pay for things like tutoring or private school tuition.
Michigan is one of 15 states that still hasn’t decided whether to join the program. Thirty states have, according to IRS data.
Whitmer said she’s still waiting on details from the federal government about how the program would work.
“The fact of the matter is the U.S. Treasury has not even released any of the guidelines so it’s premature for anyone to make any projections -- including me, we’ve got to get the information,” Whitmer said.
Public school advocates have criticized the tax credits as a roundabout way of putting public resources toward private education.
While speaking with reporters, Whitmer also fielded questions about resumption of work on an effort to stop invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes.
The Illinois-based Brandon Road Interbasin Project is a joint venture between Michigan, Illinois, and the federal government. The Trump administration had paused it without explanation from July until last week.
The end to the stop-work order came after [DEL:Governor Gretchen ]Whitmer spoke with President Donald Trump, who has often sparred with the Illinois governor.
Whitmer said that’s not how things should work.
“Ideally, you’ve got an administration that sees the value in this, and nothing gets in the way and we get it done. But, for whatever reason, there was a stop-work order. Soon as we got word of it, we investigated to made sure we got the facts and I put a call into the president. And work is commencing now,” Whitmer said.
Officials say invasive carp could cause irreparable damage to the Great Lakes eco-system if they reach Lake Michigan. Young fish were recently found about 80 miles away.
Tuesday’s press conference came on the same day Canada began levying 50% tariffs on hundreds of American goods in response to Trump’s trade war.
While Whitmer has fostered a friendlier relationship with Trump during his second term than many other Democratic governors, she shared her frustration with the actions.
Whitmer said she’s pleaded her case with the Trump administration.
“It breaks my heart to see the administration in Washington D.C. continue to have a petty fight with Canada,” Whitmer said. “They are our neighbors, they are our economic partners, Michigan jobs rely on goods being able to go over, back and forth over the border multiple times just in the making of a single car. So, this hurts us more than any other state in the country.”
