COVID-19 Tests at K-12 Schools Get $ 150 Million in Additional Budget

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Governor Whitmer signs state budget for 2022

Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday signed the final pieces of the state’s $ 70 billion 2022 budget at Lansing Community College. To Whitmer’s left is Mariah Lawrence, a student participating in the Michigan Reconnect the budgetfunds program.

Paul Egan, DFP, Wochit

LANSING – Michigan’s K-12 schools will receive $ 150 million for COVID-19 testing as part of a supplemental budget, lawmakers are expected to give final approval on Tuesday.

A conference committee made up of key House and Senate lawmakers met on Tuesday morning and approved $ 724.8 million in new spending for fiscal year 2022, which began October 1, and $ 116.8 million in new spending for fiscal 2021, which ended September 30.

Almost all of the new spending comes from federal coronavirus relief funds, although about $ 71 million comes from general state funds.

The conference committee’s recommendations are expected to go to the House and the full Senate on Tuesday. There they are subject to direct ascending and descending votes, without amendment, and should be approved.

Among the expense items approved by the conference committee:

COVID-19 screening and test “to facilitate the continued opening or reopening of schools”. The $ 150 million allocated is only half of the federal money allocated to Michigan for this purpose. The remaining money could still be allocated at a later date. $ 140 million emergency rent assistance to help low-income tenants at risk of becoming homeless or experiencing housing instability. This is in addition to the $ 622 million in federal funding already provided for this program. Relief totaling $ 168.9 million for Michigan commercial airports that carry more than 10,000 passengers per year. A $ 9 million grant for the North American International Auto Show, which has been on hiatus since the 2019 show, due to the coronavirus pandemic. For fiscal year 2021, $ 140 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to support COVID-19 response and mitigation efforts by the state health department. Other federal funds, approved under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES), had already been spent. Shifting these expenses to money recently approved by FEMA frees up CARES money, which can be spent on a wider range of state needs.

State Senator Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, Minority Deputy Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he would have liked to see all the available federal money allocated to school COVID-19 testing, rather than half .

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“I’m not getting everything I want,” he said. “It provides a good bridge.”

Senator Jim Stamas, R-Midland, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the additional spending expected to be finalized on Tuesday “still leaves us in a very positive position to move forward in a multitude of other areas.”

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ paulegan4. Learn more about Michigan politics and sign up for our election newsletter.

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