LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union is blaming “chronic underfunding” on what it alleges is the reason students are being “pushed out of classrooms” via suspensions.

“Across Michigan, students are being pushed out of classrooms through suspensions, exclusions, and chronic underfunding. These are not isolated incidents—they are the result of policy choices that disproportionately harm students with disabilities, Black students, and students from low-income communities,” AFT-Michigan stated in an email it sent out this week.

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K-12 public school funding has been at record-high levels in the post-pandemic world.

Public school funding was $14.8 billion in 2018-19, the last year before the pandemic impacted school budgeting.

The next six years, school funding increased:

$16.0 billion (2019-20)
$21.7 billion (2020-21)
$17.1 billion (2021-22)
$20.2 billion (2022-23)
$21.5 billion (2023-24)
$20.6 billion (2024-25)

That’s according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

That increase in money has come while student enrollment has declined and Michigan’s academic performance has stagnated. The Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks the state’s education system as 44th best in the country.