LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Democratic State Sen. Dayna Polehanki posted a video on X of her response to former Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to spend up to $30 million to make the poor academic performance in the state’s K-12 schools the focus of the 2026 election.

The claims.

In her statements, Polehanki made questionable claims about Snyder’s tenure as governor that were often repeated by teachers unions and politicians more than a decade ago. She also apparently has a poor memory of the financial condition of her own school district where she was a teacher during Snyder’s two terms.

The facts.

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Here’s a fact-check of Polehanki’s statements:

“It’s interesting to me that under Governor Snyder’s BEST THINKING, when he got in, what was it, 2011, we were already dead last in inflation-adjusted total revenue growth [for K-12 schools]. So, his BEST THINKING led him to slash it even further,” Polehanki said.

The facts: Snyder took office in January 2011, which means his first school budget would have been the 2011-12 school year. The state dollars (which is what Snyder had control over) increased in 2011-12 from the previous year. He did not “slash it even further.” In fact, the state dollars dedicated to the K-12 budget increased every year in Snyder’s eight budgets from 2011-12 to 2018-19, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

Polehanki mentioned a reduction in the foundation allowance school districts receive. The foundation allowance is the amount of money that follows each student to whatever district they attend. It’s the majority of state dollars a district receives, and is about 75% to 80% of all state funding for most districts.

“You mentioned [during Snyder’s tenure] a $470 per pupil cut. Is that right?” Polehanki said in the video.

The facts: This is a misrepresentation of the foundation allowance reduction that Snyder implemented his first year. Snyder did cut the foundation allowance by $300-per pupil in 2011-12. But the foundation allowance is not the only form of state funding schools get. Snyder increased the overall state dollars to K-12 schools outside the foundation allowance so that overall funding increased that first year.

How did a $300-per pupil cut turn into $470 per pupil?

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Michael Van Beek, an expert in education at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, explained it this way in 2012.

“An even more common ploy is inflating Gov. Snyder’s proposed budget cuts. Rather than a $300 per-pupil cut, schools claim the amount is actually $470,” Van Beek wrote in 2012. “To get the higher figure, they tack-on a $170 reduction from last year, which had been temporarily backfilled by one-time federal funding. This situation may represent a genuine challenge for schools, but it’s one they’ve known about and should have planned for long before Gov. Snyder was elected.”

Polehanki also leaves out the context of what condition the state was in 2011-12 when Snyder produced his first budget. From January 2000 through April 2011, economists have referred to that period as the “lost decade” or “one-state recession” when Michigan’s economy suffered while the rest of the country prospered.

Polehanki also referenced her own time as a teacher at New Haven Community Schools where she taught all eight years under Snyder as governor.

“All I knew when I was in teaching was that it got real bad. I didn’t know about all these details. But what you’ve presented here is that in the Snyder years — and you can ask teachers about the Snyder years – we didn’t know everything, how it got that bad, but it was bad. And I ended my teaching career at the end of that,” Polehanki said.

Polehanki’s teaching resume.

From 2011-12 to 2018-19, Polehanki taught at New Haven under Snyder. That district lost 141 students and saw an increase in funding of $844,549.

In other words, fewer students and more state dollars. New Haven Community Schools finished 2018-19 with 1,250 students and $8.5 million in state funding. Snyder’s budgeting increased the state money to New Haven Community Schools at the rate of inflation over those eight years.