LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan schools were already uneasy about the state’s new “take the money, waive your rights” safety grant. Now the deadline to decide has been bumped to Dec. 4, and more than 30 districts are suing before they sign anything.

The $321 million fund, first flagged in earlier reporting by Michigan News Source, comes with one catch: districts must surrender attorney-client privilege if a mass-casualty event happens on school grounds. 

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According to superintendents and their attorneys, however, the state never defined what qualifies as a “mass-casualty event,” and that ambiguity is driving much of the resistance.

“The statute isn’t written appropriately,” Rochester Superintendent Nicholas Russo said, noting that attorneys across Michigan can’t make sense of it either. His district voted to accept its $2.1 million share anyway. Others, including Huron Valley, say the language is so broad it feels “designed to coerce local school districts,” as Superintendent Paul Salah put it.

The rule was prompted by the Oxford shooting investigation, which investigators said was hampered when staff invoked attorney-client privilege. Lawmakers backing the clause say it’s about transparency; school leaders counter that Lansing is using safety dollars to force legal exposure districts never agreed to.

Oral arguments land in the Court of Claims on Dec. 11.