Michigan school districts are challenging a state funding requirement that forces them to choose between essential safety money and constitutional protections.
- Michigan school districts are suing the state over funding requirements that force them to choose between safety money and constitutional protections after mass casualty events.
- Schools must waive legal privileges and agree to investigations following incidents with three or more casualties to receive hundreds of thousands or millions in student health and safety funding.
- A court postponed the funding deadline until December 4, with another hearing scheduled for December 1 as the legal challenge continues.
The lawsuit targets a provision requiring schools to waive legal privileges and submit to investigations following mass casualty events in order to receive state funding for student health and safety programs.
Attorney Scott Eldridge, representing the school districts, said the court document that the requirement creates an impossible choice.
"Either forfeit hundreds of thousands-or even millions-of dollars essential for student safety and mental health or surrender fundamental constitutional rights through a vague, overbroad, and coercive blanket waiver of any privilege with unknown limitation," Eldridge said.
The funding provision defines a mass casualty event as any incident causing significant injuries to three or more people with fatalities. While this doesn't exclusively refer to school shootings, it could include such tragedies.
The requirement comes as communities still remember the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, where four students were killed and several others injured. Victims' families filed lawsuits seeking deeper investigations into the circumstances leading to the tragedy.
"To get to the truth of what happened and to use that truth to create a better lessons learned," one family representative said.
GOP Speaker of the House Matt Hall defended the provision, saying it ensures school cooperation during investigations.
"My hope is that the school districts take the money…and my hope is that they'll cooperate with investigations into bad things that happen at their schools," Hall said.
State officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.
A court of claims ruled Tuesday to postpone the funding deadline until December 4. Another hearing is scheduled for December 1.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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