Standing on the corner of the Traverwood Library’s entrance is a person on the sidewalk holding a sign and a clipboard. While they are bundled in a coat, hat, and gloves, they are not allowed to be in or on the library’s property. This is because they are collecting signatures for the investment in MI Kids.
Alexander Judge teaches fourth grade at Thurston Elementary. He has been part of the initiative since last year. He became involved with Invest in MI Kids last spring when he heard a presentation from a member of the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan.
“On Saturday, members of the Ann Arbor Education Association hosted signing events at four AADL locations around the city, gathering signatures to ensure the Invest in MI Kids initiative will be on the ballot in 2026,” Judge said.
He added that Michigan is 28th in the nation in per student funding, despite being the 14th wealthiest state. This gap in funding means not only are districts unable to provide teachers with adequate wages, but they are also unable to provide students with the support they need to be at their best. This shows up everywhere from being unable to pay for quality nutrition for school food to a lack of bus routes and an inability to hire enough TAs to provide needed services for students. Judge said this impacts Clague students.
“There are 27 states who care more about their students and education than the state of Michigan,” Judge said. “There are dozens of little ways that you could feel the lack of funding impact your everyday lives at Clague. Right now districts across class are directly connected to the lack of funding the state of Michigan puts toward your education. There will be many opportunities for them to sign the petition before the February deadline and every vote matters in the battle to ensure this initiative becomes a law.”
According to the InvestInMiKids website, the Invest in MI Kids initiative is to collect 700,000 signatures from Michigan voters across the state.” This ballot proposal initiative Amendment would be put on the ballot in 2026 a vote to place a 5% tax on taxable income over 1 million dollars for couples, which would only apply to the 1 millionth and 1nth dollar that would be deposited directly into the State School Aid fund to be used exclusively for classrooms and be subject to annual audits. If it passes, this means that all schools across Michigan would have an additional 1.5 Billion dollars each year to spend on students’ education.
Danniel Capitan is a German teacher at Huron and Pioneer High School who is involved as well.
“I also support this initiative because people with lower incomes are paying higher percentages of their earnings than people with the highest income,” Capitan said. “That is not equitable to me and not what is best for students and our communities.”
According to the Invest in Michigan website it is a “Constitutional Amendment to: add, beginning in 2027, an additional 5% tax on annual taxable income over $1 million for joint filers and over $500,00 for single filers. This tax is an addition to existing state income taxes, and is to be deposited into the State School Aid Fund and required to be used exclusively on local school district classrooms, career and technical education, reducing class sizes, and recruiting and retaining teachers; and subject funds to annual audits.’’
Ann Arbor community member and Huron teacher Sarah Anton is very involved in Invest in Michigan.
“Middle school students should care about Invest in MI because it will influence their experience in school and the tools and resources they have access to or don’t,” Anton said. “Since a middle schooler cannot vote, they should make sure the voters in their life are aware of the petition and can sign it if they choose to.”
Anton added to learn more about the proposal to head to https://investinmikids.org/.
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