Michigan

Michigan

Budget Cycle
Annual  

Governor Submits Budget
February (30 days after legislature convenes)

Fiscal Year Begins
October 1 

Governor Signs Budget 
June/July

Budget Links

FY2026 (enacted)
FY2026 (proposed)
FY2025 (enacted)
FY2024 (enacted)
FY2023 (enacted)
FY2022 (enacted)
FY2021 (enacted)

Enacted Budget – Fiscal Year 2026

On October 7, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed both the state’s general omnibus budget as well as the education budget. According to the House Fiscal Agency’s Appropriation Analysis and Summary, total adjusted gross appropriations are projected to be $74.63 billion (an 8.5 percent decrease from fiscal 2025), while adjusted General Fund/General Purpose appropriations are estimated at $14.11 billion in fiscal 2026 (a 5.1 percent decrease from fiscal 2025). Enacted school aid for fiscal 2026 is $21.29 billion, a 2.5 percent increase from fiscal 2025. Net General Fund/General Purpose revenue is estimated to be $15.11 billion in fiscal 2026 (a 4.3 percent increase from fiscal 2025), while School Aid Fund revenue is estimated at $18.93 billion (a 2.1 percent increase from fiscal 2025). The projected Budget Stabilization Fund year-end balance is $2.23 billion, an increase from $2.15 billion in fiscal 2025. Additionally, the budget assumes a General Fund/General Purpose ending fund balance of $237.1 million and a School Aid ending fund balance of $49.8 million. 

The fiscal 2026 budget is focused on securing sustainable, long-term funding to fix Michigan’s state and local roads; tax cuts for seniors and working families; protections for core health care services; funding for public safety; investments in air, land, and water; and changes to improve government efficiency. The budget continues to roll back the retirement tax on seniors, maintains the Working Families Tax Credit, and eliminates state taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security income; provides additional resources for improving roads, water infrastructure, airport safety, and the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund; supports business attraction, community revitalization programs, job creation services, and workforce development programs; and expands access to counsel for low-income defendants. The budget also includes a series of measures directed towards keeping neighborhoods safe, ensuring families can get the care they need, and preserving land and water for future generations. Finally, the budget ensures state government is efficient, effective and accountable through modernizing technology, maintaining facilities, and building long-term fiscal stability. The state’s education budget provides record per-pupil funding, continues free school meals for all, boosts literacy supports, funds pre-K and community college, builds up college campuses, and provides recruitment and retention bonuses to educators. 

Proposed Budget - Fiscal Year 2026

On February 5, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer released her fiscal 2026 budget proposal that calls for $84.84 billion in total spending, a 2.8 percent increase from fiscal 2025 current law. The recommended budget calls for $15.3 billion in general fund spending, a 2.7 percent increase from fiscal 2025. Additionally, the budget includes a school aid fund total of $19.5 billion, a 5.2 percent increase from fiscal 2025. Total budget by source includes federal (41.7 percent), school aid (23.4 percent), general fund (18.3 percent), other state restricted (15.9 percent), and local/private (0.7 percent). The budget projects general fund net tax revenue at $15.48 billion, a 5.2 percent increase from fiscal 2025’s estimated level. The budget recommendation calls for a $50 million deposit to the Budget Stabilization Fund, bringing the rainy day fund balance to $2.3 billion by the end of fiscal 2026, an all-time high. The budget also calls for a $50 million deposit into the rainy day fund for schools, bringing the combined reserve total to $2.8 billion. 


Proposed Budget Highlights 

The governor’s budget proposal is focused on making sure anyone can make it in Michigan, and is aimed at aimed at lowering costs, creating good-paying jobs, growing the economy, improving academic results, and supporting seniors. Highlights of the budget include:

Lowering Costs

  • Maintains the Working Families Tax Credit
  • Provides universal pre-K through the Great Start Readiness Program to an estimated 51,700 children
  • Continues providing free school meals to all 1.4 million public school students
  • Supports the MiABLE program expansion, which helps Michiganders with disabilities save money without impacting their benefits eligibility
  • Provides childcare for approximately 700 children of Michigan National Guard members
  • Funds financial literacy efforts
  • Ensures test fees remain capped at $5 for low-income students
  • Creates affordability programs for families struggling with water bills

Creating Jobs

  • Fixing Roads and Bridges
    • Includes funding to ensure Michigan matches all federal highway aid; improve state and local roads, highways, and bridges across the state; provide ongoing support for transit and rail programs; support a study and pilot program of potential road usage charge options; and install electric vehicle charging stations
  • Workers and Small Businesses
    • Invests in Small Business Entrepreneurial Support Hubs; partners with employers to meet their unique talent needs; grows CTE programs in underserved districts; expands registered apprenticeship and apprenticeship readiness programs; increases the existing employer assisted housing pilot program; and provides academic remediation, specialized tutoring, and enrollment into career and technical training or college
  • Growing the Economy
    • Continues Going Pro job training grants to businesses to support training for current and new employees; offers affordable childcare to families of children with disabilities and living in areas where childcare is scarce; streamlines permitting processes; supports rural communities through rural prosperity grants and the expansion of the Rural Development Grant Program; and invests in programs to retain and attract talent

Getting SMART on Education

  • K-12 Education
    • Supports school operations through a 4.1 percent increase in base per-pupil funding; expands support for special education students; continues mental health and safety grants to districts; implements the Governor’s Students, Metrics and Results with Transparency plan to improve student outcomes; provides additional literacy coaches; continues historic investments to improve the educator talent pipeline; and provides resources to help school staff get the education they need to become certified teachers
  • Higher Education and Workforce Development
    • Funds a 4 percent ongoing increase for university and community college operations; invests in the Postsecondary Scholarship Fund to continue fully phasing in costs of the Michigan Advancement Scholarship; and provides aid to improve student support and completion efforts

Supporting Seniors

  • Continues to provide tax relief to seniors through the rollback of the retirement tax
  • Expands the PACE program, which provides comprehensive care for the frail and elderly
  • Supports new positions to provide more timely and comprehensive oversight of nursing homes and acute and continuing care facilities
  • Enhances oversight of Homes for the Aged
  • Supports services for Michiganders experiencing dementia

Protecting and Defending Michiganders

  • Upgrades critical infrastructure at Selfridge Air National Guard base; directs opioid settlement funds to reduce overdose deaths; taxes vaping and non-tobacco nicotine products similar to other tobacco products; includes a 4 percent ongoing increase in revenue sharing for localities; increases funding to address violent crime prevention; invests in victim support services; protects Michigan’s food supply and helps livestock farmers prevent disease outbreaks; implements reforms from the Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform; establishes a state veterans cemetery; supports behavioral health resources for first responders; and increases the First Responders Presumed Coverage Fund

Making Government Work Better

  • Upgrades government information technology applications and modernizes legacy systems; funds infrastructure improvements and maintenance for state facilities; establishes a self-insurance fund for state-owned and managed facilities; increases staffing and funding for trial courts; supports investments by state agencies that reduce energy consumption; and provides funding to operate the state’s new psychiatric hospital