LANSING – Reducing class size is a direct outcome of increased state investment in education, according to the representatives of the Michigan League for Public Policy and Michigan Education Association.
League officials said the money will provide proper materials and access to good curricula. It will also allow districts to pay teachers better and reduce class sizes, they said.
According to the League, a nonpartisan advocacy and research organization, schools need to hire more teachers if they want to reduce class sizes, and investing money in the schools’ outcomes will directly impact class sizes.
“We have underinvested in education for decades. There’s been a significant (financing) gap, and what we know we need to put into the system in order to make sure that every kid has access to an adequate education,” a League representative said.
The Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest union of teachers and other school staff, said that the state’s most recent budget shows a good investment in education.
The fiscal year 2026 Education Omnibus budget totals $24.1 billion, with $19.5 billion from the School Aid Fund. That is $1 billion more than the $23 billion for fiscal year 2025.
“Our governor has done a really great job putting a lot of money into schools and classrooms. That helps to reduce class size, get more professional development and increase pay,” said Chandra Madafferi, the union’s president.
The State Board of Education approved a resolution urging legislators to require class size limits for all grade levels by the 2030-31 school year. The resolution calls for class sizes to be limited by the 2030-31 academic year to no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3, no more than 23 students per class in grades 4-8 and no more than 25 students per class in grades 9-12
The board cites a 2016 University of Michigan study to support the resolution, saying that the lowest-achieving students are over twice as likely than their highest-achieving peers to be assigned to classes exceeding 40 students.
The study said that a class size of 40 or more is an outcome that many parents and school officials would likely want to avoid.
According to 2021 data from National Center for Education Statistics, the average class size for teachers in self-contained classes in Michigan was 15.1 and the average class size for teachers in departmentalized instruction was 16.7.
The data includes a large data set of classrooms, where many will be above or below the average size.
