State Rep. Mike Harris said Michigan lawmakers should come back to work to make investments and improvements for school safety after House Democrats continued to obstruct critical funding needs and a bipartisan policy plan.

The Michigan House of Representatives convened last Wednesday for the first session day since June, which will likely be the last meeting before November. Majority Democrats failed to approve a bipartisan school safety plan that has sat in committee for more than a year. House Democrats also refused to fully restore the school safety and mental health funding they cut from the budget this summer.

“Oakland County parents desperately want to know that their kids are safe at school, but Democrats continue to show how out of touch they are with the topmost concerns of local residents,” said Harris, R-Waterford. “For well over a year, the Democrat majority has stonewalled a bipartisan plan to make our schools safer and boost the mental health of Michigan students. In June, they cut school safety and mental health funding by 92%. The first session day since the bad budget passed was a chance to right that wrong, fully restore school safety and mental health resources, and finally pass the bipartisan safety plan. Instead, Democrats gave back less than half of the reduced funding, hoping that might be enough to grab some positive press. It’s a letdown for students, parents, and teachers. School safety shouldn’t be an afterthought.”

Harris and a bipartisan group of legislators introduced the school safety and mental health plan in February 2023, but the Democrat majority still hasn’t moved the bills out of the Education Committee. The plan, which resulted from a bipartisan task force formed in the wake of the Oxford shooting, creates a comprehensive strategy to coordinate school safety and mental health efforts at schools by strengthening the OK2Say tip reporting system, requiring regular updates to school emergency response plans, implementing standard safety training for school staff, and more.

While continuing to ignore the policy plan, Democrats passed a budget this summer that cut $302 million from school safety and mental health — putting safety upgrades, mental health programs, and the jobs of counselors and school resource officers at risk. Harris, a former school resource officer, has repeatedly called for the Legislature to reverse the 92% cut, which took millions of dollars away from schools in Oakland County. This week, Democrats allowed a vote on a bill to restore $125 million, less than half of what was cut. Harris voted in favor of the partial restoration, calling for further investment to fully fund school safety and mental health.