The 75-25 formula and cumulative federal COVID relief combine to provide Michigan schools with substantial revenues beyond their usual funding streams. All told, Michigan public school revenues increase by up to $6.45 billion, or $4,637 per student enrolled in 2020-21, although the money can be spent over multiple years. It remains to be seen specifically how much these additional dollars will boost K-12 spending for each of the current and next two fiscal years. But given that primary funding sources have essentially been held harmless, the overall impact should be sizable.
Table 1. Michigan Statewide K-12 Impacts from COVID Relief and 75-25 Formula
Policy Action | Funding Allocation |
CARES Act | $721,586,825 |
ESSER II | $1,490,677,457 |
Other CRRSAA Funds | $188,964,298 |
ESSER III (est.) | $3,347,849,815 |
Other ARPA Funds | $353,384,147 |
Subtotal: Federal COVID Relief | $6,102,462,543 |
75/25 Count Impact | $349,708,168 |
Total COVID Revenue | $6,452,170,710 |
Total COVID Revenue Per Pupil | $4,637.15 |
But not all students will equally benefit from these extra funds. The modified state formula is explicitly designed to shift dollars away from districts with growing enrollments. In other words, the districts parents are increasingly choosing to use will get less funding than they normally would. And the formulas used to direct the vast majority of federal relief funds are mostly targeted to districts serving a certain student population, namely students from low-income backgrounds.
From the three relief bills, Flint Community Schools will receive nearly twice as much per pupil as any other district and over 100 times more than two dozen other districts. Table 2 and Table 3 list the top 15 and bottom 15 Michigan districts, including charter schools, in terms of the total combined per-pupil impact of federal COVID relief and the one-year formula adjustment. Smaller outlying districts, those with fewer than 200 pupils, were excluded.
Table 2. Top 15 District Impacts from COVID Relief and 75-25 Formula
Table 3. Bottom 15 District Impacts from COVID Relief and 75-25 Formula
A handful of districts will end up with scarcely enough extra funds to meet the recommended amount to implement COVID mitigation strategies, while other districts may struggle to find ways to spend these extra revenues.