Michigan lawmakers used vague wording to skirt a constitutional requirement when they gave taxpayer money to private organizations through the 2025 state budget.

When the Legislature gives private companies taxpayer funds, the Michigan Constitution requires it do so by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.

Lawmakers gave $2 million to the West Michigan Teacher Collaborative, according to the House Fiscal Agency, which reported the names of the budget’s grant recipients and the amount each received. The budget document itself, however, does not use the term “West Michigan Teacher Collaborative.” Instead, it describes the grant indirectly.

“From the funds appropriated in part 1 for community enhancement grants, $2,000,000.00 shall be awarded to a teacher collaborative located in a county with a population between 600,000 and 700,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census to support programming,” the budget reads.

Most grants in the 2025 budget are described this way. It is a longstanding practice, according to Benjamin Gielczyk, associate director of the House Fiscal Agency.

“The wording you reference (using populations) has really been the practice for enhancement grants/special grants for quite some time,” he told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email. “It stems from how we identify specific local units in statute. For example, many statutes specific to Detroit describe it as a city with a population greater than 600,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census. Since it doesn’t specifically identify a city or local unit and uses a population range, it provides an ‘open class’ meaning technically after any census another local unit could qualify. This really deals with the two-thirds requirement under Article IV sections 29 and 30.”

Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, scorns the practice. “It’s trickery,” she told CapCon. The vague wording thwarts accountability and transparency, she added.

Legislators need to change their practice, a legal expert told CapCon. “The Michigan Constitution is clear that laws targeted to local interests require the support of two-thirds of the Legislature,” said Steve Delie, a specialist in government transparency and open records at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“The legislature should follow the process established by the Constitution, rather than employ these misleading tactics,” he said.

Six months after voters rejected a $42 million bond proposal for the Plainwell Community School district, the district lowered the amount by about $2 million and will ask again on Tuesday.

A school district flyer says that school facilities still need security for current doors and windows; new turf and track; new gyms; finished multi-use space; new HVAC; new parking lots; new playgrounds and fencing; and a new preschool building.

A Facebook post indicates that the district bought five acres of land for a new preschool building. It’s asking taxpayers to fund the building.

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The district bought the land because the campus is landlocked, Plainwell Community Schools Superintendent Matthew Montange told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email. “Parcels of land in our community are valuable and rarely come on the market. In the event the land is determined not to be needed, it can always be sold at a later date. Completion of AC at Cooper and Starr Elementaries is a priority, playgrounds have been completed to the level specified in the 2019 bond but would be expanded if the new bond passes.”

“The State of Michigan does not provide funding for infrastructure improvements; school communities must vote to fund these improvements,” according to the district’s flyer.

Historically, there has been no money from the state to fund local school district infrastructure projects, according to Bob Wheaton, director of the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Public and Governmental Affairs.

“There have been small sums of money in the last two years for this purpose,” Wheaton wrote in an email to CapCon.

The new bond proposal follows a new trend of Michigan voters rejecting more school bonds after the average request doubled from $21.7 million in 2000 to $44.6 million in 2024.

Schools usually ask for around 40-60 bonds annually, according to a CapCon analysis of a state website that tracks school bonds since 1996.

School districts have asked voters to approve 60 school bonds so far this year.

Of those, 29 have passed, and 32 have failed.

In 2020, schools asked voters to approve 61 school bonds. Of those, 48 passed and 13 failed.

In November 2019, Plainwell voters approved a $48 million bond. In May 2024, voters rejected a $42 million bond proposal by voting 1,133 to 1,368.

On Nov. 5, voters in Michigan will decide on 22 school bonds seeking an average of $40 million.