Taking the Mystery Out of Michigan School Finance

Revised and updated in August 2023! The purpose of this handbook is to help those interested in public education in Michigan gain an understanding of the system currently used to generate revenue for the support of Michigan’s public schools. In addition to describing where the dollars come from, it will also describe the basis on which dollars are distributed to each school district. Such a description would not be complete if it did not also include a discussion of some of the public policy questions that give rise to both support and criticism of the current system. To that end this handbook will briefly describe past problems, how they have been addressed, and what problems still remain.