Opinion | Cutting Medicaid would gut Michigan schools and hurt our kids

Michigan prides itself on being a leader in providing school-based health care. With one of the largest school-based Medicaid programs in the country, our state ensures that thousands of students receive critical health services where they are most accessible: in school. But now, looming federal cuts to Medicaid threaten to dismantle that progress and place an unbearable strain on our schools, our health care system and, most importantly, our children.

More than 70% of children who receive mental health services receive those services at school, according to the School-Based Health Alliance. For many families, school is their only consistent point of contact with the health care system. Medicaid funds vital services like speech and hearing screenings, occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological care and school nursing. These are not optional extras or luxuries, they are essential services, particularly for students with disabilities and behavioral health needs.

In fiscal year 2024 alone, Michigan schools received nearly $170.5 million in Medicaid reimbursements to support school-based services, a significant portion of which benefits students receiving special education. These dollars don’t fund overhead; they go directly into schools, funding staff positions like school nurses, counselors and therapists who serve on the front lines of student health and well-being.

Slashing Medicaid could have a domino effect that would force schools to eliminate essential health staff, leaving teachers, principals and other administrative staff (who are already stretched thin) to fill impossible gaps. School districts would be forced to make difficult decisions, like diverting money from classroom instruction to try and patch up holes in health care services. The result? Every student loses — especially those who need support the most.

And let’s not forget the broader picture. Medicaid isn’t just about schools — it’s the backbone of Michigan’s health care system. One in four Michiganders depends on Medicaid, as it covers nearly half of all births in the state, supports hundreds of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities and helps nearly 1 million children access preventive and routine care. Cutting Medicaid would do more than undermine health care in our state; it would destabilize one of Michigan’s largest economic sectors and blow a $2 billion hole in the state budget that Lansing simply cannot afford to fill.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a budgetary issue — it’s also a moral one. When we talk about slashing Medicaid, we’re not talking about trimming fat, we’re talking about cuts that will hurt our most vulnerable children, neighbors, family members and friends. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid enrollment for children has been shown to increase educational attainment and increase wages in adulthood. Michigan has built a strong, collaborative school-based Medicaid system. Now is the time to protect and strengthen Medicaid, not dismantle it.

I urge members of Congress to consider that cuts to Medicaid are cuts to Michigan classrooms that will impact our kids’ futures. Our students deserve better. And we, as a state, must fight to protect our children.