Dear Neighbor,
I’m writing to share good news: Michigan’s full state budget has officially been passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor! While this year’s process was filled with uncertainty, we now have a bipartisan agreement in place that ensures a stable and balanced budget for the new fiscal year. This responsible budget reflects the priorities that communities across the state have called for.
In this newsletter, I’ll highlight some of the investments I’m most excited to share. Read on to learn more! As always, please feel free to reach out to share your thoughts or seek assistance with any challenges you may be facing with state departments. You can email me at SenMCavanagh@senate.michigan.gov or call 517-373-7748.
Sincerely,
Mary Cavanagh
State Senator
District 6
A Budget That Delivers for Michigan Families, Schools, & Local Communities
After months of negotiation and hard work, we passed a bipartisan state budget that puts people first — protecting health care, investing in our schools, fixing our roads, and keeping our state open despite major federal cuts.
From the beginning, Senate Democrats have been focused on delivering a budget that reflects the values of our community: strong public schools, safe neighborhoods, and support for working families. This budget delivers on those priorities — with record funding for students, free school meals for every child, protections for Medicaid and food assistance, and expanded funding to fix our roads without cutting essential services.
The final agreement upholds the core community-centered values Democrats have championed in their previous two budgets, while finding room for compromise to ensure schools and state departments can continue to operate into the new fiscal year. More specifically, the budget includes investments to:
- Lower Costs: Continues the retirement tax repeal to save seniors $1,000 per year, makes child care more affordable through the Tri-Share program, and supports workforce training opportunities.
- Protect Vital Services: Saves Medicaid in Michigan to ensure health care remains accessible and affordable, protects SNAP benefits and the Double Up Food Bucks program, and continues support for police and fire departments.
- Implement a Long-Term Road Solution: Requiring that corporations pay their fair share, this budget puts forward a sustainable plan to fund road repairs without raiding our schools or other essential programs.
- Fight Federal Cuts: Mitigates the worst impacts of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” to prevent a $1B budget hit and protect health care access, public safety, schools, and more.
- Protected the Farm to Family and Soil Health & Regenerative Agriculture programs.
- Blocked proposed cuts to food safety, animal disease response, and emerging contaminants in agriculture.
Additionally, we secured major wins for our public schools, too! Highlights from the school aid budget include:
- Historic investments in our kids and classrooms with the highest-ever per-pupil funding of $10,050.
- The continuation of the widely popular free school meals program, which ensures students can learn on full bellies, while helping parents save an average $850 per year.
- Increased investment in funding for students and schools that need extra support, such as at-risk students, English-language learners, special education programs, and rural and isolated districts.
- Additional funding for literacy supports, building on Senate Democrats’ legislative efforts to strengthen learning based on the science of reading; and
- Critical investments in school safety and student mental health to modernize security systems and hire more counselors, social workers, and school resource officers.
- Efforts to encourage smaller class sizes and better learning environments for students and teachers.
- Increased funding to all Michigan universities and community colleges.
And as your state Senator, I’m proud to have brought these investments home to District 6:
- $750,000 to improve water infrastructure in Redford Township.
- $500,000 for the North Rosedale Park Community House.
- $300,000 for the Brightmoor Connections food pantry.
It wasn’t easy, but we got it done. And now, we’ll keep breaking down what this budget means for our district and for Michigan in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned — we’re just getting started.