HOLT, Mich. — Governor Gretchen Whitmer stopped by Horizon Elementary School to read to second graders on Thursday.
It was their first day of the new school year.
News 10 was able to talk to the governor afterward about her proposed 2020 budget.
Whitmer said education is at the top of her list and that's why she wants to invest money into it.
She says there is an education crisis in Michigan and hopes both sides can come together to help fix it.
"The education of our kids is absolutely essential to the security of our state, the economic future of our state," Gov. Whitmer said.
Gov. Whitmer's budget was introduced months ago but still hasn't gotten through the Legislature.
"This is the first year in nine years that we don't have a budget before the school year started. It's creating a lot of stress at every district across our state," she added.
The Governor proposes spending $15.4 billion for the state's K-12 schools, along with $507 million in additional investments for students that have more expensive educational needs.
She says it could be the biggest increase for school operations in a generation. She wants to pay for it by stopping the flow of sales tax revenue into the road construction fund.
Whitmer says that both sides need to work on getting the budget passed, so schools can focus on what's most important: giving kids a good education.
"This is not about partisanship. This is about getting a budget done so that our educators, our principals, our superintendents, our teachers, our para-pros, know what they are working with this year," she said.
According to data collected by Wallethub, Michigan ranks as 37th in the nation in education. The study took into account student performance, funding, safety, class size, and instructor credentials.
"You know I'll be working very closely with the Legislature to make sure that whatever resolution we have prioritizes the education of our kids and puts us in a position to fix the roads. We're not doing one at the expense of the other."
The new budget has to be approved by October 1st to keep the government running once the budget year starts over.
To see the full proposed budget, click here.
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