St. Clair Today

Affluent school districts in Michigan are requesting larger portions of the federal COVID-19 relief funding, according to reporting by Bridge Michigan. 

These demands come after lower-income school districts have been given significantly more funding from the COVID-19 relief package than schools in wealthier neighborhoods. While this may seem just, the reality, school officials say, is that the degree to which the low-income schools are being helped is no longer fair. 

“Clearly, COVID-19 doesn’t recognize school district boundaries, and how Congressional funding is allocated going forward needs to reflect that reality,” wrote Paula Herbert, Michigan Education Association President, according to Bridge Michigan.

Michigan’s schools are expected to receive $3.8 billion, in addition to the previous sum of $2.5 billion from the 2020 relief packages. 

Currently the gap in funding is more than 100 times different in certain schools districts. 

Lower-income students in some schools, for example, are receiving over $10,000 per student, while affluent schools are being given less than $100 per student. 

For example, AuTrain-Onota has been given $6,779 per student and is ranked 46.9% economically disadvantaged, while Fowler, on the other hand, is only being given $471 per student, ranking 25.3% economically disadvantaged.

While individual school administrators are upset by the disparity in allocations, Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said that skewed funding is fair, claiming that Detroit has to field many more challenges than the rest of the state of Michigan. 

“Those who have greater needs receive more,” Vitti told Bridge Michigan. “Those with fewer needs receive less.... It’s actually interesting to observe all of the lobbying efforts and commentary by district leaders in suburban districts."

Local schools’ allotments from the COVID-19 relief funding are as follows: Algonac, which received a total allocation of $2,333,879 and $1,662 per student; Capac, which received $1,834,063 and $2,220 per student; and Port Huron, which was given $26,858,774 total and $3,422 per student, just to name a few.