LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan poured nearly $1 billion into literacy programs, and got worse results.
Over the past decade, state lawmakers funded a series of reading initiatives meant to lift Michigan into the top tier of states for fourth-grade reading. Instead, proficiency fell and the state slipped further behind its peers.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Michigan ranked behind 42 states in fourth-grade reading proficiency in 2015. By 2024, it ranked behind 45, with the share of students reading proficiently dropping from 29% to 25%.
From 2016 through 2025, Michigan allocated roughly $1 billion toward literacy efforts, including literacy coaches, expanded instruction time, and targeted intervention programs. Since 2019 alone, about $846 million has gone toward reading initiatives.
Despite the spending, statewide results have barely budged. In 2025, fewer than half of Michigan’s third- and fourth-graders tested proficient in reading on state exams.
Last year, lawmakers quietly removed language from the state budget that set a goal of becoming a top-10 state in reading by 2025. No new benchmark replaced it.
Even so, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is preparing another major push. Her office said this week she will propose a $625 million reading initiative, calling it the “largest literacy investment ever in state history,” as she enters her final year in office.
Critics argue Michigan’s problem isn’t funding, but follow-through—pointing to limited accountability, uneven teacher training, large class sizes, and a fragmented education system that makes statewide reform difficult.
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“If money solved everything, we’d be No. 1,” former Attorney General Mike Cox, now a Republican gubernatorial candidate, said.