Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice filed a brief in the Michigan Supreme Court on Friday supporting a challenge to a law prohibiting the funding of nonpublic schools, except in the case of transportation.
A law enacted in 2016 allowed for the state to “reimburse actual costs incurred by nonpublic schools in complying with a health, safety, or welfare requirement mandated by a law or administrative rule of this state.” This meant the state would provide funding to nonpublic schools to help them meet law or administrative rules set by Michigan.
Whitmer and Rice inherited a lawsuit filed several months after the 2016 law went into effect which claimed that the law went against Michigan’s constitution.
“When we partner to ensure a great education for our kids, we must do so in compliance with the Michigan Constitution,” Whitmer said in a statement on Friday. “As governor, I take an oath to uphold the constitution of our state.
The Michigan Constitution includes an amendment in 1970 that clarifies that “no public monies” should be paid “directly or indirectly to aid or maintain any private, denominational or other nonpublic…school” and that “no payment,…subsidy, grant or loan of public monies…shall be provided, directly or indirectly, to support the attendance of any student or the employment of any person at any such nonpublic school.”
The lawsuit claims the provision of funding to nonpublic schools to help them meet a “health, safety, or welfare requirement” is in direct violation of the amendment to the Michigan Constitution. The brief filed by Whitmer and Rice agrees with the challenge to the law, except for in the case of transportation.
“As explained in their brief, the Governor and Superintendent then undertook a careful examination of MCL 388.1752b, and concluded that the state can provide funds to nonpublic schools to help them pay the costs of complying with state mandates, but only if those mandates are related to student transportation,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “Beyond that, the statute’s funding of nonpublic schools is constitutionally prohibited.”
The brief was filed in the case of Council of Organizations v. State of Michigan.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with Battleground State News and The Michigan Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair. Email her at [email protected].
Photo “Gretchen Whitmer” by Gretchen Whitmer. Photo “Michael Rice” by Michigan.gov. Background Photo “Michigan Supreme Court Building” by Subterranean. CC BY-SA 3.0.
