State school board opposes help for private and public school students

The Michigan Board of Education approved a resolution in May to oppose a federal tax credit that would help public and private school students with supplies, tutoring, tuition and special needs intervention.

The state board approved, by a 5-2 vote, a resolution citing a section of the Michigan Constitution prohibiting public money from being used for private schools.

The May 12 vote came five days after a bipartisan poll showed that 72% of Michigan voters support the credit. A separate, smaller poll said 61% of respondents think Michigan should opt out of the program.

The resolution concerns a federal tax credit, not expenditures from the Michigan budget. As such, the federal credit does not violate the Michigan Constitution, Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

“In Michigan, due to a constitutional amendment created with animus toward Catholics, state money cannot be spent directly or indirectly on private schools, even though school choice has been shown to lead to better educations results,” Wright said.

Wright noted that the program in question is federal and that “therefore, Michigan’s misguided prohibition does not apply.”

Though the resolution does not mention how public school students might benefit from the tax credit to receive tutoring, school supplies and special needs interventions, it includes nine references to benefits for private school students.

In response to a request for comment, Bob Wheaton, spokesperson for the Michigan Board of Education, pointed to the audio of the meeting where board members discussed the resolution.

The resolution also cited voters’ support for a 1970 constitutional amendment, Proposal C, which prohibited the state from using public dollars for nonpublic schools.

Voters favored the measure 56 years ago, but a recent poll on the tax credit suggested that sentiment has shifted.

Marketing Resource Group’s recent survey of roughly 1,000 Michigan voters found 72% support for the state opting into the program.

Support crossed party lines, according to a press release from the organization, with 79% of Democrats, 71% of Republicans and 68% of independents giving their assent.

The result tracks with declining support in recent years for traditional public schools and increasing favorability for charter schools and homeschooling. Charter enrollment grew from roughly 67,300 students in the 2002-2003 school year to approximately 146,000 in 2017-18, according to Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

Charter schools enrolled more than 152,000 students in the 2023-24 year, according to Bridge Michigan.

Homeschooling has taken on a larger role as well. The Johns Hopkins University School of Education, citing the U.S. Census Bureau, reported that 5.3% of families in Michigan homeschooled their children in spring 2020. That increased to 6.58% in 2023-24, according to Johns Hopkins estimates.