Rep. Ann Bollin is playing games with the funding for your child’s school.
Last week, the House Appropriations Committee chair led an effort to cut $5 billion from the education budget – a “plan” unveiled just 20 minutes before the vote.
All Republicans voted for it – including Rep. Jason Woolford.
Usually, the state budget is built after a series of committee hearings where those affected have a chance to make their voices heard about their needs and how much should be spent.
Bollin didn’t want to hear any of that.
Instead, without listening to any constituents and working behind closed doors, she cut the overall school aid budget by about 25 percent. Gone is funding for transportation and special resources specifically for rural schools, as well as free breakfast and lunch for all students – a money saver for Michigan families.
She didn’t stop there.
Bollin’s plan (HB4161 and HB4162) provided ZERO funding for most state agencies, including:
• Community Colleges
• University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and all other state universities
• Agriculture and Rural Development
• Department of Education
• Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
• Natural Resources
• The Treasury
• Health and Human Services, including Medicaid.
• Attorney General’s Office.
And she cut funding for veterans services by 38%. She cut the courts by 2/3, the Department of Corrections by 1/4, and state police by more than 1/3.
And on and on.
Bollin’s plan will make Michigan residents less safe. Our government will be less able to arrest, prosecute, and lock up lawbreakers; less able to keep our air and water clean; less able to protect children from abuse and neglect; less able to pay for medical care for those who need it; less able to collect taxes; less able to run our state parks; less able to process tax refunds, and on and on.
She hopes she can back the Michigan Senate (controlled by Democrats) into a corner and force them to beg to properly fund services we need by starting at zero. That strategy could result in a stalemate that could shut down state government on Oct. 1 when the budget is due.
She justified her plan, saying she is not planning to shut down the government, but that her plan is a way to prevent a shutdown if there is a threat of a shutdown – which her plan actually makes much more likely.
Maybe it’s all for show. But the fact is Bollin and Woolford are on record wanting to decimate the funding for your child’s school, state university, public safety, and more.
That strategy might look good right now, but it will look different come November 2026.
