By Ben Solis, Kyle Davidson and Katherine Dailey, Michigan Advance
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday announced that her office will focus on childhood education and trying to put more money in Michanders’ pockets during her final year in office, proposals that will include lifelong literacy efforts, increased school funding and what she called the “Every Child Reads” program.
“We’ve been working together to make our schools safer, better places for kids to learn and grow,” Whitmer said. “This year, let’s build on that progress. I just released my final executive budget recommendation, which included the largest targeted literacy investment in Michigan history.”
The plan would include teaching reading skills earlier, and fully funding free, full-day pre-kindergarten for all children to set up that early success.
Whitmer also wants to move the state to more proven literacy teaching practices for use in all Michigan classrooms.
Her proposal would also call for extra help in the classroom, more tutoring and small group support in class, at after-school programs, over the weekend, and during the summer too.
“Strong readers and writers grow up to be more confident speakers, better problem solvers, and great entrepreneurs. Illiteracy is a challenge that compounds over time,” Whitmer said. “How could anyone enjoy learning when you can’t read your textbook?”
American students are falling behind, Whitmer said, and Michigan students were no exception.
“There’s a gender gap here too. Boys are behind girls in reading at every age,” Whitmer said. “Michigan is 44th for 4th grade reading. Forty-fourth.”
She hoped her policies could address literacy head-on, but also that growing gender gap.
Whitmer directly addressed the strain Michiganders have felt due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, noting that many are still nervous about their standing in the national economy, which directly affects Michigan’s own economic standing.
“As everyone reels from national uncertainty, we must stay focused on growing Michigan’s economy,” Whitmer said. “This year, let’s stay competitive against our neighbors like Ohio and Indiana by equipping ourselves with the tools we need to create good-paying jobs and make it easier to develop and grow here.”
Whitmer’s office had previously told reporters that the governor would make medical debt a major priority this year. Whitmer indicated that Michiganders deserve access to quality, affordable health care, but that was getting harder and more expensive even to just get basic coverage, let alone the kind of specialized coverage some might need.
“Historic federal cuts to health care are destabilizing hospitals, raising premiums, and kicking Michiganders off their insurance,” Whitmer said. “We’re taking action to protect core Medicaid services, ease the burden of medical debt, and ensure every Michigander can see a doctor. We believe that getting sick or hurt shouldn’t also mean going broke.”
Whitmer noted that Republicans in Washington D.C. passed the largest cuts to Medicaid in the nation’s history, which raised premiums, reduced services, and ripped coverage away from Michiganders.
The federal cuts will ultimately make coverage more costly, she said, leading to accumulating medical debt.
Her plan to address that would cap interest rates on medical debt, prevent medical debt from showing up on credit reports, require hospitals to set up financial assistance programs for patients, and would ban liens or foreclosures on homes because of medical debt.
Whitmer’s 2026-27 budget recommendations propose to provide more critical investments to stabilize health care coverage for the 2.5 million Michiganders on Medicaid. It could also help ensure that their quality of coverage will not change by finding new, responsible sources of revenue and efficiencies in the program to save money.
The governor also called on Congress to extend the now-expired Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act subsidies that the Republican majority let lapse at the turn of the year. Whitmer has long said that doing so would lower costs and protect coverage for thousands of Michiganders, and reiterated that belief in her final address to the Legislature and state residents.
“Last year, the majority in Washington, DC voted to slash Medicaid and SNAP by $1 trillion, ripping health care and food away from millions of our neighbors, family, and friends,” Whitmer said. “They went home and did nothing and let premiums on the Affordable Care Act skyrocket.”
On housing, it was too hard for Michiganders to afford a home and gain access to one even if they could because of low housing stock.
“I want all our young people to succeed and put down roots in Michigan. They should be able to buy a house and start a family. They deserve a life that’s just as good and hopefully better than their parents.
“Unfortunately, it’s too hard and too expensive to build new housing today. Tariffs sure haven’t helped,” Whitmer said. “We rely on Canadian lumber and Mexican drywall to build homes, and tariffs have raised the cost of a house by upwards of 17 grand, further exacerbating our housing shortage. We can’t change national tariffs — believe me, I’ve tried — but we can build more quality, affordable housing in Michigan.”
Whitmer also was concerned about a growing gender gap in home ownership: 25% of first-time buyers are single women, while just 10% are single men.
Her solution has been: “Build, baby, build.” Now, she’s focusing efforts with a new state-level affordable housing tax credit.
“There’s already a federal affordable housing tax credit, which incentivizes the construction of housing for working class families. With a state credit, we can build thousands more homes every year,” Whitmer said. “Michigan’s the only state in our region without this tool. And once we create one, it unlocks more federal dollars too.”
Whitmer is also proposing to “demolish nonsensical construction requirements,” and streamline zoning.
“Michiganders love the character of their communities,” Whitmer said. “Whether you crave the hustle and bustle of a busy downtown or the slower pace of a quiet main street, every community is different — and that’s a good thing. For too long, however, our laws have made it easy to expand suburbs but hard to build walkable downtowns and main streets or do more with your own property.”
As part of her gubernatorial highlight reel, Whitmer underlined that she has signed laws putting key parts of the Affordable Care Act in state law, including protections for those with pre-existing conditions, ability to stay on a parent’s insurance until age 26, and elimination of caps on annual or lifetime care.
She also touted her work to erase $144 million of medical debt for 210,000 Michiganders; negotiated and enacted a balanced, bipartisan budget to protect core health care services for 2.5 million Michiganders on Medicaid that will help hospitals in rural and underserved areas stay open; and became the first state in the nation to guarantee equal coverage for mental health and substance use disorder.
Whitmer also signed bills in 2020 to end surprise medical billing.
Mixed reaction along party lines
Michigan’s legislative leaders reacted to Whitmer’s proposals following the speech, with their commentary unsurprisingly falling along partisan lines.
Among Whitmer’s most powerful allies in the Senate is Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids). She praised Whitmer’s proposals and looked forward to a “productive year.”
“Let’s … stay focused on our shared mission: giving our kids the best chance at a successful future by improving literacy, helping more folks attain housing that fits their needs, and making health care affordable and accessible for all Michiganders,” Brinks said in a statement. “In doing so, we can show residents what good, accountable government looks like.”
State Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is also another powerful player that will be key to helping push forward Whitmer’s new proposals.
“From pushing for meaningful property tax relief so seniors and middle‑class families can stay in their homes, to reducing the financial strain of medical debt and strengthening Michigan Reconnect so people can get the skills they need to land good‑paying jobs, I was encouraged to hear priorities that reflect the people‑focused, commonsense work I’ve been committed to for years,” Anthony said in a statement.
State Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), a former high school teacher, said she was proud of the work she and the Whitmer administration were able to accomplish thus far. She also looked to the road ahead in advancing that progress.
“I look forward to continued collaboration on more practical, bipartisan solutions that will set our kids up for healthy, successful futures right here in Michigan,” she said.
Things weren’t so optimistic on the GOP side, however.
State Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township), in a formal Republican response to Whitmer’s address, threw mud on Whitmer’s eight years in office, calling attention to the $8.5 billion in fraudulent unemployment payments paid out during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the scandal involving the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which paid out $20 million to Global Link International and its owner, Fay Beydoun. The grant was later canceled due to misuse of funds.
Ahead of Whitmer’s 2025 State of the State, Nesbitt criticized the governor over the state’s poor literacy scores, an issue Whitmer has made top priority for her final year in office.
“It’s about time,” Nesbitt said, but repeated past criticisms of her decision to sign legislation eliminating Michigan’s third-grade reading law, and the A-F Grading system for schools.
The state can also address housing child care and health care shortages by “getting government out of the way and taking a blowtorch to Whitmer’s bloated bureaucracy and crippling red tape to make Michigan more affordable,” Nesbitt said.
“It’s time to declare Michigan open for business and good-paying jobs once again,” Nesbitt said.
Nesbitt is also a candidate for governor on the Republican side of the aisle.
Despite Nesbitt’s criticisms, Brinks said literacy has always been a point of common ground .
“We need to have a sustained effort of consistent resources, training and approach, and that needs to really be across Legislatures, across terms, across party and leadership,” Brinks said. “And you heard that tonight from the governor.”
Alongside literacy, housing affordability and healthcare access that doesn’t drive people into debt are core principles for Senate Democrats and their counterparts in the House, Brinks said, noting her confidence that both she, and Whitmer can finish their eight years in office strong.
As far as her top of the list goals before leaving office, securing a consistent funding formula for K-12 education that transcends parties and a sustainable commitment to improving literacy would be a huge win, Brinks said.
House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) issued a statement ahead of Whitmer’s address. Although he got a due shoutout from Whitmer during his speech on enacting large-scale legislative funding for roads, Hall tempered Whitmer’s insistence that the state has made measurable progress under her tenure.
“Here’s the truth: House Republicans did the work. We cut taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. We eliminated over a billion dollars in waste instead of raising taxes,” Hall wrote in a social media post. “We delivered a real roads plan without a gas tax hike. We secured record school funding, expanded career education, guaranteed free school meals, strengthened ethics laws, and fought for reliable energy and jobs. If there are wins to celebrate tonight, they happened because Michigan House Republicans led and delivered.”
That said, Hall did express gratitude to Whitmer following the speech, especially considering he got a shout out from her. Hall also thanked the governor for her focus on housing issues, adding that his priority this year is to lower and eliminate property taxes.
“I’m looking forward to working with her on property taxes, to eliminate the state property tax, to eliminate the personal property tax, to force the utilities to lower their rates by over a billion dollars.”
But Hall called much of Whitmer’s speech “low-hanging fruit.”
“They were things that were safe and achievable,” he said. “I’m challenging the governor. Let’s be more bold than that. Let’s work together on the biggest tax reform in Michigan’s history, and let’s save people on their property taxes.”
Hall added that he has found Whitmer more willing to engage if she feels that there’s “an opportunity to do something big and significant,” and that he hoped that his property tax plan would be such an opportunity.
“If she feels like there’s just political stuff going on here and not an opportunity to really make a difference on a big issue, it’s easier to disengage, okay,” he said. “But we have this governor, Governor Whitmer, for one more year, and I don’t think we should wait one more year to do those things.”
Hall also again hinted towards a potential budget fight, something that he has already pointed towards in the past, specifically citing taxes as the sticking point.
“How committed is Gretchen Whitmer and the Democrats to raising taxes and raiding the rainy day fund? If they’re willing to back off that, we’ll get a deal pretty quickly,” he said. “If they’re dug in on raising taxes and raiding the state’s rainy day fund, then we’re going to have a big budget fight, because we’re not going to budge on that.”
House Minority Leader and Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), however, called the speech a “home run,” saying that she laid out a road map for the year ahead.
Puri also pushed back on Hall’s budget expectations, saying that “it’s hard to believe anything the Speaker says.”
He tends to contradict himself or say things that might not be true,” he continued. “The Speaker has unfortunately not realized that he’s only one leg of the three-legged stool in the state legislature, and he is outnumbered and minority, and so the tone and the dictation of the budget is not going to fall squarely on the speaker.”
He also indicated hope about the governor’s housing proposals, especially the state-level affordable housing tax credit.
“If there was an easy solution here, we would all do it. I was particularly excited to learn more about the tax credit. It looks like it can unlock some federal dollars, which hopefully can provide extra benefits,” Puri said.
Dems disappointed in absence of ICE criticism
While Puri said he was not disappointed in Whitmer not mentioning ICE expansion in Michigan in her speech, as “there’s a time and place to make noise and protest items that are sometimes beyond our control,” some of his Democratic colleagues disagreed.
“I think it’s really weird that we’re thanking Trump instead of criticizing him,” said Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City), whose district includes part of Romulus, where a new ICE detention facility is planned to be established. “At this moment, fascists are here building a detention center in my district, and we heard no criticism of Trump, no criticism of ICE, no pushback on ICE. And that’s really disappointing.”
Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) agreed, saying, “We’ve had Michiganders rounded up, kidnapped, and, you know, disappeared, and she didn’t even mention it.”
“I wish she would have at least validated what people are seeing and hearing,” she added.
Wegela also criticized Whitmer more broadly, especially in terms of education funding.
“The governor likes to tout that we keep having record funding for schools, which is true in some sense, but not when you adjust for inflation,” he said. “They stole from the schools to fund the roads. We took $1.3 billion from the school aid fund last year, which is the largest we’ve ever done in the state of Michigan. And what’s being proposed by the Governor is a $1.7 million transfer this year, which would be even larger.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
