LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – Senate Republicans Thursday proposed niche funding pots for school safety while offering a total of 28 failed amendments to Democrats’ PreK-12 budget recommendation, to which Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) said “talk is cheap.”

“School safety is a real and serious issue and should not be politicized,” Anthony said on the Senate floor today, responding to an amendment by Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton) that would allow schools to utilize $328 million in recommended mental health and school safety appropriations for purchasing automated external defibrillators and trauma kits.

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In the Senate’s proposed PreK-12 budget bill, SB 173, public schools would have access to $310.5 million in per-pupil payments during Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 for mental health and school safety per-pupil investments. The money could be used on safety infrastructure purchases, such as door blocks, firearm detection software and window security film that could delay an attempted intrusion.

Nonpublic schools could access $17.5 million in per-pupil payments for the same purposes.

The incorporation of school safety recommendations into Republicans’ demands for the FY ’24 budget comes a day after a loaded gun was confiscated from a third grader’s backpack at Stocking Elementary School in Grand Rapids, according to a MLive report. Shortly afterward, Grand Rapids Public Schools implemented a backpack ban in the district’s school buildings, exclusively authorizing students to bring in “small compacts” for personal hygiene items, cases for musical instruments and lunch bags.

However, Senate Democrats had no appetite for Republicans’ safety-focused amendments.

Democrats spotlighted their now-signed bills that would charge an adult firearm owner with a 5-year, $5,000 felony if a minor obtained a non-secured gun and injured themselves or others. The Dems argued if Republicans were serious about keeping guns out of the hands of kids, they would have supported their now-signed safe storage bill. Because the GOP held back their support to give that bill immediate effect, it likely won’t take effect until the new year (See “Democratic-Led Senate Approves All 11 Core Firearm Reform Bills,” 3/16/2023).

“You voted against the very laws that would give prosecutors something to charge the parents with,” said Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak).

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The aforementioned legislation would also charge a firearm owner with a 93-day, $500 misdemeanor when a minor obtains a gun and exhibits it in a public place.

However, as for Theis’ amendment specifically, Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.) asked, “Why are we shouting at each other over defibrillator kits and having the ability to have a trauma kit at the school?”

“I guess I’m glad to hear that all the laws that we pass are going to magically make sure all trauma ceases next year, and that there’s not going to be a cause for any trauma anymore,” McBroom said.

Other safety-related amendments featured one from Sen. Michael WEBBER (R-Rochester Hills) to separate school safety and mental health spending into individual expenditures. Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) suggested dedicating $286 million to being distributed on a per-pupil basis for building security among public and nonpublic schools.

Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon) called for eliminating $128 million in special projects – such as $2 million to Hamtramck Public Schools for accelerated learning coaches and their professional development, as well as $12 million to the Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency (CCRESA) for a 3-year-old preschool pilot program – and allowing the money to be spent on school safety efforts instead.

Ultimately, SB 174 was approved by a party-line vote of 20-17.

When describing his initial reaction to Republicans using the issue of school safety in their debate against his budget, Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton), chair of the Senate PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said, “They’re just wrong, right?”

“We had historic school safety money in our budget, over $343 million of available resources for our schools and actually giving them the most flexibility,” Camilleri said to the media. “When we talk about school resource officers, previous budgets only had a small number that was a grant program that only a few districts got access to. In the way that we wrote our budget, every school district, if they wanted to hire a school resource officer, they would be allowed to use that money that we’re giving them to do so.”

SB 174 was worth more than $20.8 billion in PreK-12 funding. By the time the Senate approved all of its budget recommendations for FY ’24, Republicans presented more than 170 unsuccessful amendments.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) believes his caucus has laid out a lot of points of what they would like to see in a bipartisan budget, particularly one that is sustainable, that invests in roads and bridges, pays down long-term debt, provides tax relief to small businesses and doesn’t prioritize the biggest and most profitable multinational corporations.

“I want to get a sustainable, long-term budget done,” Nesbitt said. “A balanced budget is one of our constitutional obligations, and my hope is that, as I extend my arm out to try to work with our friends on the other side, is that they actually extend their arm back.”