Appropriations: school aid; fiscal year 2025-2026 appropriations for K-12 school aid; provide for. Amends, adds & repeals (See bill).

Added new funding sources including $200,000 from the general fund and various restricted funds to supplement the state school aid fund for public school appropriations.

Increased public school appropriation from $17,769,551,300.00 to include additional fund sources totaling over $17 billion in combined allocations.

Added detailed breakdown of community college appropriations for 30 individual colleges with specific amounts for operations, performance funding, and North American Indian tuition waiver costs.

Added new appropriations for adult learner navigation ($1,150,000), Michigan Transfer Pathways ($1,000,000), FAFSA completion incentive ($980,000), and Project Clean at Western Michigan University ($750,000).

Increased higher education appropriations from $2,324,292,600.00 with expanded breakdown including Michigan Achievement Scholarships ($330,000,000) and Tuition Incentive Program ($93,800,000).

Added new appropriations for pension obligations including $21,800,000 for normal cost contribution rate offsets and $62,100,000 for participating community colleges.

Added new appropriation of $350,000 for internet accessibility improvements at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Added requirement that general fund allocations must be expended before state school aid fund money and unexpended funds must be transferred to school aid stabilization fund.

Added provision allowing advance release of funds upon written request with proof of temporary nonrecurring need, limited to 30 days earlier than established payment date.

Modified payment installment dates for public schools to include October through August 20th of each year, with accrual of July and August payments to the preceding fiscal year.

Created a new School Aid Stabilization Fund to prevent proration of school aid payments during budget shortfalls, with provisions for automatic deposits and investment management.

Established a School Consolidation and Infrastructure Fund to support school district consolidation efforts and infrastructure improvements, including feasibility studies and construction projects.

Added $66.6 million for infrastructure grants and $20 million for educator housing grants for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Changed fiscal year appropriations from covering 2025-2026 to only 2025, and modified funding amounts for various programs including community colleges and public universities.

Created new eligibility criteria for districts receiving infrastructure grants, prioritizing those with declining enrollment, high opportunity index bands, or those unable to issue bonds.

Created new eligibility provisions for districts affected by drinking water emergencies, providing funding for nurses, social workers, and other support services.

Added extensive new definitions for membership counting including provisions for cyber schools, dropout recovery programs, and special education students, with detailed participation requirements for virtual courses.

Added requirements for districts to conduct feasibility studies for consolidation and make results publicly available within 60 days of completion.

Added new requirements for reporting on infrastructure projects and educator housing programs, including publication of status reports to legislative committees.

Modified payment schedules for various funds, allowing departments to determine payment schedules rather than following fixed installment schedules.

Updated total state school aid appropriations from $17,769,551,300.00 to $17,936,546,300.00 for fiscal year 2025-2026, with corresponding adjustments to allocations from various funds including the state school aid fund, general fund, and specialized education funds.

Established new infrastructure grants totaling up to $100,000,000 for 2025-2026, prioritizing districts with higher opportunity index scores and those with HVAC or roofing needs, with funds carried forward into 2026-2027.

Added comprehensive definitions for cyber school participation, virtual course attendance, and expanded the definition of 'district' to explicitly include public school academies in specific contexts.

Created new requirements for districts to report per-pupil costs of virtual learning by vendor type and model, and established detailed audit and reporting schedules for financial and pupil accounting records.

Modified membership counting rules to clarify how students in cyber schools, public school academies, cooperative education programs, and dropout recovery programs are counted for funding purposes, including new provisions for students in alternative education programs.

Updated various funding amounts and fiscal year references throughout the bill, including adjustments to school loan revolving fund allocations and cash-flow borrowing costs.

Added 17 new definitions including 'Average daily attendance', 'Center', 'Community district', 'Cooperative education program', 'Department', 'District', 'District of residence', 'District superintendent', 'Center program', 'District and high school graduation rate', 'District and high school graduation report', 'Membership', 'Public school academy', 'Pupil', 'Pupil membership count day', 'Supplemental count day', 'Tuition pupil', 'State school aid fund', 'Taxable value', 'Textbook', 'Total state aid', and 'Rule'.

Created new funds including School Consolidation and Infrastructure Fund, School Loan Revolving Fund, School Aid Stabilization Fund, and allocated $100 million for infrastructure grants in 2025-2026.

Updated total appropriations for fiscal years 2025-2026, increasing state school aid fund allocation from $17,769,551,300 to $17,936,546,300 for 2025 and $18,366,334,700 for 2026.

Added detailed membership counting rules for cyber schools, public school academies, special education students, dropout recovery program participants, and students in cooperative education programs.

Created eligibility criteria for infrastructure grants prioritizing districts with high opportunity index bands, declining enrollment, or inability to issue bonds.

Established funding for districts affected by drinking water emergencies, including allocations for school nurses, behavioral health supports, and nutritional services.

Requires districts to publicly post detailed budget information, expenditure charts, collective bargaining agreements, and other financial data on their websites.

Requires districts to report per-pupil costs for virtual learning programs by vendor type and model to the department.

Establishes withholding penalties for districts that fail to comply with reporting requirements, audit requirements, or budget transparency provisions.

Extended membership counting periods and adjusted membership calculation methods for various student populations, including special education and cyber school students.

The number of amended sections was dramatically reduced from over 100 sections in the Senate version to just 6 specific sections in the House version.

The House version includes specific appropriation amounts totaling approximately $17.77 billion for fiscal year 2025-2026, with detailed breakdowns by funding source including state school aid fund, general fund, community district education fund, and various reserve funds.

New requirements were added for the state treasurer to make installment payments to districts and intermediate districts on specific dates, with provisions for advance fund releases under certain circumstances.

Many definitions and program descriptions that were present in the Senate version (such as definitions for 'center program', 'district and high school graduation rate', and 'membership') were removed in the House version.

The bill header was changed from Senate substitute to House substitute, and page numbers and tracking identifiers were updated to reflect the House version.

The list of sections being amended was expanded from 6 sections to over 100 sections, significantly broadening the legislative changes being made to the State School Aid Act.

New sections 12e, 12f, 18d, 31c, 32y, 35e, 35f, 61v, 97n, 99o, 99p, 99q, and 99mm are being added to the act, introducing new provisions that were not previously part of the legislation.

The bill header changed from 'HOUSE SUBSTITUTE' to 'SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL', indicating the document has moved from House to Senate processing with additional amendments incorporated.

New definitions were added for 'Center program', 'District and high school graduation rate', 'District and high school graduation report', and 'Membership' to clarify how special education programs and student counts are calculated.

Funding appropriation amounts were updated with additional figures inserted, though the core funding structure remains similar to the previous version.

Header information was updated to reflect the bill as passed by the House on October 1, 2025, with new document identifiers added for tracking purposes.

Page numbering and document metadata were updated with new tracking codes (S01533'25 (H-5)_SB166_APH_1) replacing previous identifiers.