Educating students in the midst of state funding delays is the top priority for Battle Creek school districts

Editor’s note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s On the Ground Battle Creek series.

BATTLE CREEK, MI — School districts in Michigan — a total of 539 — should not have to beg state lawmakers to receive funding from the Michigan School Aid Fund (SAF), but that’s exactly what’s happening, says Eric Greene, President of the Lakeview School District’s Board of Education.

The SAF is allocated a budget of approximately $21.9 billion for the upcoming fiscal year (2025-26), according to the House Appropriations Committee’s report in June 2025. This budget supports per-pupil funding increases and various other K-12 education programs and operations across the state, according to Michigan’s State Fiscal Agency.

“The School Aid Fund is a huge pot of money in the state budget, and it’s constantly under pressure from state lawmakers to use that money for other purposes,” Greene says.

Peter Spadafore, Executive Director for the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, likens the SAF to the state’s “piggy bank when lawmakers want to spend more money but don’t want to raise the revenue.”

Battle Creek Public Schools (BCPS) also has been advocating on behalf of its students, says Charlie Fulbright, President of BCPS Board of Education.

“What would that mean if we did not receive state aid payments, and how long as a district can we go without these aid payments? We’re starting to understand the possible cash flow issue. Eventually, our district funds are going to run out. I’ve never been through anything like this in my 29 years in education.” — Dr. William Patterson, Lakeview Schools Superintendent

“We have encouraged our Board to reach out to our Legislature to apply pressure on the urgency and importance of this budget being passed for our students,” he says. “The teachers’ union has applied pressure, as well as staff. We are all united in the fact that this is hurting everybody.”

Education funding is one of many in Michigan’s $78.5 billion 2025-26 budget. The state House of Representatives passed its version of the budget, which is now in the hands of the State Senate. If a budget is not passed by October 1, there is the possibility of a government shutdown.

Funding per pupil could increase from $9,608 to $10,000 based on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2025-26 budget recommendations, according to the MEA. Factoring in things like inflation, Greene and Dr. William Patterson, Lakeview Schools Superintendent, say the per-pupil allowance should be about $12,000.

“We are expected to pass our budget by June 30 every year. We do. We follow the rules. Our legislature is doing all this infighting and not adhering to their own rules. Michigan is better than this. We all should be thinking about our future generations, our children.” — Dr. William Patterson, Lakeview Schools Superintendent

“The question then becomes, Patterson says, “Are we able to meet certain needs for our students and at what level is that? Can we cut a social worker in every building, or is it just in one building? Can we reduce class sizes or are we going to have to increase that to 34 students per class?”

Patterson says the essentials he cites would be all of the things necessary to open the doors for school in the fall. Among the non-negotiables at Lakeview: office supplies already budgeted for and positions already committed to.

Fulbright says  BCPS is “being conservative with our spending and looking into grant funding.”

The focus on the essentials has prompted a number of school districts throughout the state to begin developing funding contingency plans, according to various media reports.

Greene says this raises many questions, among them, “Are we going to have to entertain the thought of dipping into our Undesignated Fund to keep the lights on and pay our employees?”

Prioritized lists of what Lakeview leadership had hoped to do have become just that, hopes, Patterson says.

Hiring for additional positions that include those for special needs students or capital improvements is on hold, he says.

“We’re only approving essentials at this point, and we can’t move forward until we know more from the state. We’re making sure staff are already on board and making sure we can pay their salaries. A large portion of the budget is for that. We’re establishing spending plans at the building level, which will still allow each building to spend accordingly.”

As a superintendent, Paterson says he feels like a big part of his job is to support learning at the building level.

“Some of that is lesson planning or things we want to do that takes additional funds,” he says. “We have teachers who would want to bring in guest speakers or create a field trip or special projects. We want to create all of the things that create better lesson plans and engagement at the student level.”

Fulbright says BCPS has “looked into putting moratoriums on certain programs, such as before and after school care. But we were able to find a grant that would circumvent that moratorium. Our grants team has been very diligent in mitigating any possible moratorium on our programs.”

In the seven years that he has been serving on the BCPS Board of Education, he says the level of uncertainty “has never been this bad.”

A potential government shutdown and its impact on school districts are ongoing conversations.

“We have encouraged our Board to reach out to our Legislature to apply pressure on the urgency and importance of this budget being passed for our students. The teachers’ union has applied pressure, as well as staff. We are all united in the fact that this is hurting everybody.” — Charlie Fulbright, President of BCPS Board of Education

“What would that mean if we did not receive state aid payments, and how long as a district can we go without these aid payments?” says Patterson. “We’re starting to understand the possible cash flow issue. Eventually, our district funds are going to run out. I’ve never been through anything like this in my 29 years in education.”

The students, Fulbright says, stand to lose the most as a result of the funding uncertainties.

“You cannot provide a healthy, positive learning environment when you are always in the unknown,” he says.

Staff and administrators with BCPS and Lakeview are focusing on delivering a quality education and services to their students in the midst of these unknowns, say Fulbright and Greene.

“We come to school every day because we love educating students. We want them to achieve their graduation requirements and follow their careers and hearts in life,” Patterson says. “We have an amazing staff that does that each and every day. I would ask state lawmakers to make that easier on us.”