The Overview

If your child's Michigan school receives weighted state funding, it must now meet a new set of academic and reporting requirements to keep that money. SB 903 became law when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed it July 21, 2026. Michigan's school-funding system has long sent substantially less money to its highest-poverty districts: a report covered by Bridge Michigan estimated the state needed an additional $3.6 billion a year, with more directed to schools serving large numbers of low-income students and students with disabilities. ​

What the Law Does

The law sets concrete conditions on districts that receive weighted foundation payments under the State School Aid Act of 1979, touching everything from classroom instruction to annual public reporting.

School district boards and public school academy boards that receive those weighted payments must now address student achievement in literacy and mathematics, provide direct English language development instruction to English language learners, and administer the WIDA ACCESS or WIDA Alternate ACCESS assessment. They must also implement a multi-tiered system of supports, an evidence-based framework using data-driven problem solving, in every grade they operate. Administrative costs of complying with the law are capped at 2 percent of the weighted foundation payments a district receives.

Each year, covered schools must report literacy results, including grade 3 and grade 7 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress scores and SAT results for economically disadvantaged students and English language learners, along with a breakdown of how weighted funding was spent, to parents and guardians. The department must establish English-learner program models with minimum weekly instruction minutes and monitor compliance, and school boards must allow audits and reimburse any disallowances.

Legislative Status

Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D) sponsored the bill. The Senate passed it 23–14 on April 30. The House passed it 101–7 on July 3, and the Senate concurred 24–12 the same day.

Whitmer said at signing: "Senate Bill 903 finally moves Michigan to a weighted funding formula that directs more resources to the students and schools that need them." The Michigan Education Association described the enacted budget as including "both positive investments and troubling trends," and said the weighted-funding system established by SB 903 could have a lasting effect on equity between districts.

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