Bipartisan Michigan team to raise $100M+ in school safety, mental health programs

According to a proposal obtained by Local 4, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is expected to urge the state of Michigan to spend more than $100 million on new mental health and school safety programs.

The draft, broken down into presentation slides, was created by the School Safety Task Force, which was formed following the school shooting at Oxford High School. The group has been working behind the scenes for months, hammering out details and agreeing on a pass in one of the most difficult election cycles in recent memory.

“I’m a Democrat and there are a few Republicans that I’m going to go through fire just for them,” Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi) said in an interview about the bill. There are 10 million people living in Michigan. We must not make this partisan. So it belongs to everyone.

Under the bill, the state would have to find between $101 million and $184 million to fund up to eight new mental health and wellness services for schools. million in incentives for mental health workers to work in schools and $52 million for 100 school-based health care centers.

The task force is proposing more than a dozen changes to state safety laws. Among those proposals, mandatory updates to school safety plans, better active shooter drills and improved training for school resource officers. They are seeking funding for two new positions at each school. Safety Coordinator and Mental Health Coordinator.

Some proposals are already in the state budget, such as a capital needs assessment to help schools understand how much money they need to make and how much they actually need. But most of the proposals should be added together in the supplementary budget or next year’s budget.

The long list of expenses comes as schools struggle for funding and are facing major staffing shortages, meaning adding schools can be especially difficult for rural or low-income districts. Brien says funding will be in place before everything is signed.

“We’ve made a big increase in the budget for per-student funding. So this is one way to control it. But we don’t offer anything that isn’t funded.

There are some sticking points on which the task force disagrees. Those mostly focus on guns, gun control, and guns in schools. On the list, should schools send home letters encouraging safe gun storage or should the state even have laws about safe storage?

Questions have been raised about whether to end gun-free zones, which would allow concealed weapons to be carried in schools. Programs such as “guardian programs” that allow “highly trained individuals” such as veterans or former law enforcement officers to have access to guns on school grounds, or extreme protection orders known as red flag laws have all been discussed but not decided.

Ultimately, the task force is seen as a bipartisan success, with much work left to do.

“This isn’t it, look at it now, make a few adjustments and then let it go. “It’s an ongoing issue, we’re going to continue to look at what’s effective, what’s not effective,” Breen said.

Although the task force hopes to complete the draft “soon,” Breen said there is no specific timeline for the release of final recommendations.