Lansing Update: Nonpublic Schools Would See $40M In Support Under Proposed State Budget
Posted June 13, 2025
House-Passed Budget Provides $40m to Nonpublic Schools to Invest in Safety, Meals & More
A school spending budget approved by the House this week would set aside a dedicated $40 million for nonpublic schools across Michigan to pay for school safety improvements, healthy meals for children, student teachers, and other support services permitted by the state constitution.
The House-approved budget would combine most of the various funding items that Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) and the Michigan Association of Nonpublic Schools (MANS) have worked to have included in the state budget over the years into one section.
The idea behind this approach is to allow nonpublic schools to access the funding on a per-pupil basis—about $400 per child—and use it as each individual school deems necessary, within the parameters spelled out in the budget.
Instead of a nonpublic school having a certain amount of funding for only safety improvements and a certain amount only for robotics funding, it could dedicate its allotment completely to school safety, or completely to robotics, for example.
The House-proposed budget would differ from past years, however, in that nonpublic schools could also use the funding to expand access to free breakfasts and lunches for their students, or arrange for support of student teachers who teach in nonpublic buildings. MCC and MANS have been advocating for nonpublic schools to be included in each of these respective state programs for years.
Another new provision nonpublic schools could apply the funding to is professional development for teachers to improve literacy learning.
Allowable uses of the money further include school safety improvements, mental health services, and support of nonpublic students’ participation in robotics programs and competitions. These are funding items that nonpublic schools have received in this current budget year as well as previous budget years, as approved by both the Legislature and Governor.
It is also important to note that these funding provisions would not violate the state constitution, because the funds do not specifically support “the attendance of any student or the employment of any person at any such nonpublic school,” as stated in the constitution.
For instance, in the case of the student teacher stipend program, the payments made to support those individuals student-teaching in nonpublic schools would be made directly to the higher education institution that they are enrolled at.
In other budgetary provisions pertaining to nonpublic education, the House spending plan keeps a $3.5 million appropriation to support dual enrollment opportunities that allow nonpublic school students to enroll in and benefit from college credits.
A $1.5 million provision to reimburse nonpublic schools for the cost of complying with state mandates related to health and safety regulations would also stay intact in the House budget.
Finally, the House budget would remove a cap on the growth of shared time services, which allow nonpublic school students to enroll in elective courses provided by public schools, which at the same time generates additional funding for public schools. This educational partnership has been in place for decades.
For public education, the House proposed more than $12,000 per pupil in aid, with roughly $2,000 of that amount intended to provide similar flexibility to school districts to spend as they choose. Before, funding was allocated into different funding pots with specific purposes.
These spending provisions along with the rest of the House’s education budget cleared two committees and the full House chamber this week, setting up negotiations between the House, Senate and Governor’s office. All three parties have now formally put forward a school spending plan for the fiscal year that begins October 1.
Both the Senate and Governor proposals provide no support for nonpublic schools. In the coming weeks, members of the Catholic Advocacy Network like yourself may be invited to help advocate for a final budget that best supports students in all schools, particularly the 100,000 students who attend nonpublic schools.
U.S. Supreme Court Unanimously Sides With Catholic Charities in Religious Exercise Case
The U.S. Supreme Court this month delivered a convincing victory for religious freedom by ruling unanimously in favor of Catholic Charities that operate in Wisconsin.
The 9-0 opinion was written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor—an appointee of former President Barack Obama—and found that Wisconsin’s denial of a tax exemption to a Catholic Charities agency was an unconstitutional violation of the agency’s First Amendment rights.
Wisconsin exempts nonprofits from paying taxes into the state’s unemployment compensation system if they are “operated primarily for religious purposes,” and are controlled, supervised, or principally supported by a church, according to the U.S. Supreme Court opinion.
Yet the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Catholic Charities agencies in the state did not qualify for this exemption because “they neither engage in proselytization nor serve only Catholics in their charitable work.”
Catholic Charities agencies carry out their work because of their adherence to the Catholic faith and the teachings of Jesus to serve the poor. It is the Catholic faith that animates the work of Catholic Charities agencies, which are open to serve all people, Catholic or not.
MCC, along with other state Catholic conferences, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in support of the Wisconsin Catholic Charities agencies that were forced to sue to preserve their First Amendment rights.
In the brief, MCC and the other conferences argued in part that “care for those in need is a fundamentally religious obligation for Catholic bishops and their dioceses.”
The timing of this opinion is fitting given that the Church in the United States will soon mark the annual Religious Freedom Week, which begins June 22 on the feast of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher and concludes on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
During each day of Religious Freedom Week, the U.S. bishops invite the faithful to pray for a particular need or concern as it relates to religious freedom. MCC will be promoting these daily prayer intentions from its social media channels, and more information about Religious Freedom Week can be found here.