Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently released the final report from the Michigan Parents Council, an advisory group she established to better include parents in the education budget process.

The report summarizes feedback from thousands of Michigan parents and seven regional roundtables that the council held, including one in Marquette. The report recommends continued investments in student mental health, school safety, teacher recruitment, learning supports, and parent/student feedback on state and local education policy.

The council builds on Whitmer’s inclusion of the parent perspective in the education budget she signed for the current school year and includes parents from across Michigan, as well as parents of students with a variety of educational needs.

Specifically, the council recommends that 2023-24 education policy and budget initiatives continue to prioritize and support access to student mental health and school safety funding for schools in the Michigan budget. This includes funds for counselors and social workers, school programming and curriculum.

Additionally, it recommends that schools should be provided with the resources and flexibility to meet learning needs, which are unique to each student. Creative teacher recruitment and certification funding strategies should continue, and opportunities for parents and students to provide feedback on local and state education policy as well as budget initiatives should be expanded.

Parents confirm that students have varying learning needs and styles that require different types of instruction, noting that social and emotional learning and mental health are bigger priorities than academics for many parents. They also believe that standardized testing takes up significant time and creates undue pressures on students and teachers, plus students need access to before- and after-school programs, tutoring and extracurricular activities.

Also, many parents say that preschool and early childhood programs are important.

The report quoted a Marquette parent as saying, “The quality of teachers is top notch, but we worry about being able to attract and retain teachers long term.”

Student mental health, school safety, teacher recruitment and the other issues mentioned in the report are noble causes, but the question remains: How do we obtain them? More funds and resources, obviously, would help, but so is getting creative in improving state schools. Criteria tailored to individual needs, for example, is one way to achieve this, although that too sounds challenging and could depend on class size and teacher-to-pupil ratio.

Again, it comes down to funds and resources.

We are pleased, though, that the 2023 bipartisan education budget included the highest state per-pupil funding in Michigan history at $9,150, increased mental health funds for every student and other investments.

Parental feedback always has been a necessary component of the entire education process, and we are glad to see the Michigan Parents’ Council report focuses on this feedback.

We hope that parents continue to stay involved in their students’ schools and provide constructive ideas on how to improve them.

— The Mining Journal, Marquette