LANSING – The House and Senate passed a $15.2 billion school aid budget bill Thursday, increasing the amount that is allocated for the classroom by $304 million and to special education services by $30 million.

The budget deal came after the Republican and Democratic leadership in the House endorsed the changes late Wednesday and approved the budget Thursday without input from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The House passed the measure on a 91-18 vote with all the Republicans and 34 Democrats voting for the budget and 18 Democrats opposing.

“We've come together. We’ve reached an agreement and we want to get our schools funded,” said Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering. “I'm happy to stand on a bipartisan way with a product that I think is very healthy.”

House Minority Leader Chris Greig, D-Farmington Hills, said it was important to get the budget to Whitmer to ensure that schools knew what level of funding they’ll have for the school year.

“We want to get the best budget we could get to the governor,” she said. “She asked us for a budget this week and we’re getting it to her as requested.”

Democrats in the Senate, however, were united in their opposition to the budget, saying that to call it a historic amount of money was misleading. The bill passed the Senate on a 21-17 vote with all the Democrats and Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Potterville, opposing the bill and the rest of the Republicans supporting it.

"K-12 schools are going to get 25% less money in inflation-adjusted dollars compared to 15 years ago," said Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor. "We're asking schools and teachers to do more with less. We continue to fall behind and costs continue to go up."

Sen. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, noted that the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House because "we're working to close the gap between our lowest and highest funded schools. ... And we're giving students in Michigan the resources they need to succeed."

The per-pupil allowance — the guts of the budget that accounts for $9.7 billion of the school aid fiscal plan — will increase between $120 to $240 per student from a minimum of $7,871 per student up to a maximum of $8,529.

More:No consensus on Michigan road fix as budget deadline nears

More:Whitmer calls on Republican lawmakers to reveal their plan for fixing Michigan roads

In Whitmer’s budget proposal, there was less of an increase in the per-pupil allowance, but more money for districts with a high percentage of at-risk students, a 20% reduction in funding for cyber schools and $84 million more for the state’s Great Start Readiness program, which provides preschool programs for children in low-income families.

The House disagreed with those provisions, but added in $30 million more to reimburse schools for special education costs. That money will come from the general fund, which has about $500 million in unallocated money.

“In March, Gov. Whitmer proposed a budget that included $507 million for public education, which would help local schools raise teacher pay, reduce class sizes and upgrade technology. The governor’s budget would also triple the number of literacy coaches, improve classroom resources for special education needs, provide more funding for low-income and at-risk children, and expand career, skills, and technical education in Michigan high schools," said Tiffany Brown, spokeswoman for Whitmer. "While the school aid budget passed by the Legislature includes some additional funding, it is still nowhere near what the governor proposed in the executive budget, and far short of what our children deserve."

But Rep. Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis, said the budget provides more funding to protect the state's most valuable resource, "our young people."

"As a teacher and father of three wonderful little girls ... I know this budget is going to do good things for education," he said.

State rep. Lori Stone, D-Warren, a former teacher, said she's disappointed that the fiscal plan doesn't keep up with the rate of inflation..

"I’m disappointed that this is the best that our Legislature can do for our students and our schools," she said.

And Paula Herbart, president of the Michigan Education Association, said the vote was a good first step, but more needs to be done.

“It addresses only a fraction of the $2,000 gap in per-pupil funding schools face. It doesn’t eliminate the effects of 25 years of last-in-the-nation education funding increases. For us to truly invest in the success of every student, lawmakers need to make a long-term commitment to addressing these issues," she said.

“If we focus only on how much we spend, and not on how we spend it, we risk leaving countless students behind because their needs are more costly," Herbart added.

The budget vote came after the Republican leadership in the House and Senate were at an impasse with Whitmer, primarily because of funding for roads. Whitmer had proposed a 45-cent-per-gallon increase in the gas tax to fuel road improvements, but the proposal never caught on with legislative Republicans.

Republicans have suggested ending the sales tax on fuel and passing an equivalent per-gallon gasoline tax increase, which would boost funding for roads, but reduce revenue for schools and municipalities. They’ve also suggested extending payments to the teacher pension funds for five or more years.

Senate Republicans also wanted to make a one-time payment of $500 million from the general fund into roads, but Whitmer said that doesn't fix the road funding shortfalls in the long term.

The school budget passage began to deliver on a request from Whitmer that the Legislature approve fiscal plans this week before Republicans head to Mackinac Island this weekend for the biennial GOP conference.

Some budgets received tentative approval last week and the rest, covering state departments, were expected to get committee approval Thursday. Final votes from the House and Senate are expected on Tuesday.

The school aid budget — HB 4242 — now moves to Whitmer for her consideration. The governor can veto the whole budget or do line-item vetoes of portions of the budget, but Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, who voted against the budget, said a wholesale veto would be hard because school districts, whose budget year started in June, are anxiously awaiting allocations from the state.

"You look at the situation heading up into the Oct. 1 deadline," he said, referring to the start of the state's fiscal year. "And that would be really problematic for our schools around the state. (Whitmer's) going to take a hard look at the individual line items, and we'll see what happens when she's got it."

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.