The nonprofit’s report reveals poor academic achievement for state students, with the worst exhibits posted by poor and minority schools.
Michigan’s K-12 education system has “the problem of pandemic recovery across the state,” with more money being the answer, says a nonprofit research group.
The ETM said “Michigan does not fund public schools badly.”
From 1995 to 2015, Michigan was “the worst in the country for growth in education revenue,” the report says.
Michigan is currently ranked seventh out of 50 states, currently spending $9,608 per student. New Jersey is leading the nation, spending $13,946 per student, according to the report.
Learning losses are reflected in the ongoing academic achievement of K-12 students in Michigan.
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ETM researchers have placed Michigan in five of five out of 50 states for reading recovery measured from 2019 to the present.
Nebraska experienced the biggest learning losses, while Hawaii is less. Reports show that Louisiana did not experience any learning losses in the same period.
Students are late to reading and mathematics
The report revealed that third-year students in Michigan from third to eighth grade are 40% of grades lagging behind mathematics and 75% of grade levels lagging behind reading from the 2019 location.
During the 2023-2024 academic year, ETM found that 60.4% of Michigan third-graders could not stand reading.
Almost 68% of seventh grade students found that mathematics was not needed in the same year.
In 2024, Michigan’s fourth graders reached 44 years in reading, and that eighth graders ranked 31st in mathematics out of 50 states.
According to the report, one in eight Michigan students enrolling in college must take a relief course to compensate for flaws in their high school education.
The numbers are twice as many as black students.
supt. Carsonville Port Sanilak Community School Dug Max Law, Carsonville, Michigan. Provided by Doug Muxlow
The ETM report also warned of the potential impact of the Trump administration’s quest to abolish the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
The report found that Michigan schools’ federal funding reached $3.7 billion, accounting for 13.8% of the budget in 2023.
The federal dollars are being used by Michigan school districts to pay for things the state isn’t fully funded, such as students with disabilities, English learners and even first-time applicants for university loans, according to the report.
Beyond financial support, ETM researchers have found that DOE benefits schools in Michigan by collecting and analyzing useful education data. The DOE also serves as a source of monitoring and accountability for school districts to ensure fairness in grant use, they said.
Race and income gap
In the 2023-2024 grades, 83.4% of Michigan’s black third graders tested poor reading. The rate was 53.3% for white third graders.
In the same year, 90.6% of black seventh graders tested that there was no shortage of mathematics, but according to the report, the non-conventional rate for white seventh graders was 61.1%.
According to data from the 2023-2024 Michigan Student Test Educational Progress, 57.1% of third-graders with high income backgrounds were tested as proficiency in reading, and 26.9% of third-graders with low income backgrounds were tested as proficiency in reading.
The same test showed that 48.9% of high-income seventh graders were skilled in mathematics. In contrast, 18.1% of seventh graders from low-income backgrounds were proficient in mathematics.
The poorest
According to the ETM report, nine states offer the highest poverty rate school districts with 10% to 40% more state funding than low poverty school districts. Michigan is not one of them.
“For many years, Michigan’s school funding formula required an additional 11.5% for students from low-income backgrounds on what they call “risk” funds in addition to foundation allowances (or basic student spending), but that amount was often underfunded.
The ETM said its research suggests that students from low-income backgrounds need to receive 100-200% more funding than their peers from more favorable backgrounds.
School’s state director Michael Rice told the times that despite historic investments in education in recent years, “our schools remain underfunded by billions of dollars.”
Beyond the increased funding, Rice said other reforms are needed to improve student achievement, particularly small class sizes in K-3 high-poverty classrooms.
Rice pointed to several bright spots, including an increase in high school graduation rates and increased rates of post-secondary qualification achievement, as well as a significant increase in the number of Black and Latino high school students completing using advanced placement classes.
View from the ground
Dag Maxlow, director of Carsonville Port Sanilak Community School, a rural Michigan district, served more than 400 K-12 students, and told the Epoch era that the financial impact of the decline in registration is perhaps the biggest concern for most Michigan school systems.
Muxlow said the decline in revenues caused by student losses combined with annual student increase could result in districts being broken or sometimes losing ground despite increased state contributions per student.
“Small towns and rural school districts in our state are usually low-income, and they really struggle with the financial challenges that stem from declining enrollments.
“Michigan has a small program to address this by giving additional dollars to districts that lose enrollment, but it needs to be expanded significantly,” Muxlow said.
Muxlow said learning losses from the Covid-19 lockdown are not a major factor in his district.
“When it comes to academic performance disparities, socioeconomic factors are huge. For example, we have students in our district who have no internet access to our families at home,” he said.
He also said the demolition of the DOE would have a minor impact on Carsonville Port Sanilak Community School.
