Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday signed his last education budget before leaving office, a $16.8 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2019 that includes the state’s largest per-pupil school allowance increase in more than 15 years.
K-12 districts will see a funding increase of between $120 and $240 per student under the bill, which completes a $56.8 billion budget that includes $39.9 billion in general government spending that Snyder approved last week.
The final budget of Snyder’s tenure continues to reverse cuts made his first year in office when the Republican governor signed a budget that reduced per-pupil funding by $300 million.
The lowest-funded school districts in Michigan will receive a $7,871 foundation allowance next year, up 3.1 percent from $7,631 the current year and up a total of 15 percent from $6,846 in 2012, according to data from the non-partisan Senate Fiscal Agency.
The new education budget includes $14.7 billion in K-12 funding, $408 million for community colleges and $1.7 billion for higher education.