LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan families are paying more to send their kids back to school this year than families in any other state, according to a Michigan lawmaker who joined a national panel on Wednesday to examine the rising cost of education.
State Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, joined former U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, former North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, Century Foundation President Julie Morgan and Groundwork Collaborative President and CEO Lindsay Owens on a press call organized by the advocacy group Defend America Action.
Koleszar said tariff policy out of Washington has hit no state harder than Michigan. “The tariff policies coming out of Washington, D.C. have cost Michigan families roughly $5,619 per household. That puts us at the highest in the nation.”
Koleszar pointed to a state program he said has helped offset some of the burden. Michigan has budgeted free breakfast and lunch for every public school student since 2023, a measure he said saves families $850 per child every year.
Nationally, the panel said the cost of getting a child ready for school has climbed sharply. Owens said the trend is being driven largely by tariffs on imported goods. “This year, the cost of school between supplies and lunch will set families back $4,000 per child. That’s up 11 percent from last year.”
Morgan said the strain is showing up beyond the shopping list. She said nearly half of parents surveyed in polling done with Groundwork Collaborative expect to take on debt to cover school supply costs, and that public schools are facing their own tariff-driven cost increases on energy and technology.
Cardona, who led the U.S. Department of Education under President Biden, said affordability pressures are showing up in classrooms directly, affecting whether students can focus and engage.
The call also touched on a Michigan-specific policy fight. Republican lawmakers in the state have pushed for Michigan to opt into a federal education tax credit created under the tax and spending law President Trump signed last year, arguing it would help families cover education costs by supporting donations to private-school scholarship funds. Koleszar opposes the idea, framing it as a voucher program in a different form.
“I would remind my colleagues across the aisle that Michigan voters have rejected voucher systems multiple times, which is what this is. It is public money for private schools, which we know Michigan voters have soundly rejected.”
Michigan voters have rejected school voucher proposals at the ballot box in the past, including a 2000 statewide ballot measure.
