MI Blueprint: Strategies for Increasing and Reforming Special Education Funding

Michigan’s special education system has long been underfunded and inequitable, leaving students with disabilities and their schools without the resources they need. The MI Blueprint – authorized by the Legislature in 2024 – is the first coordinated, statewide effort to modernize special education finance in Michigan. It is rooted in data and includes research by state and national experts. Developed over a year and involving more than 1,000 educators, administrators, families, and advocates, the MI Blueprint calls for an additional investment of 1.3 billion dollars and proposes a fair, transparent, and practical funding model that reflects both Michigan’s values and its fiscal realities. This session will provide attendees with a clear understanding of how the Blueprint’s fourtier weighted student funding model works, and how it directly addresses the shortcomings of Michigan’s current special education finance system to create a fairer, student-centered system.