Updated November 6, 2026: Michigan has opened FY27 applications for 31aa funds. Below are the current application windows and the latest guidance from the Michigan Department of Education.
This school year, Michigan will send mental health and school safety money to every district that applies. And, for the first time, that money can buy character education. The change is one sentence in Section 31aa(2)(k) of the education budget signed on July 21:
"Purchasing and implementing an evidence-based character- and relationship-building education program that includes family engagement, service learning, and project-based character development, and that fosters positive student-educator relationships and whole-school culture."
Starting with this year's 31aa funds, Michigan districts can pay for The Positivity Project with Section 31aa money. Character and relationship education is now a named line on the state's approved spending list.
The budget itself (House Bill 5630, now Public Act 25 of 2026) includes $321 million to support student wellness through mental health and safety grants to districts, which is a 12-fold increase in that funding since 2019. Most of the coverage focused on literacy, free school meals, and increased per-pupil funding. But, for school leaders who believe culture and safety start with character and relationships, the sentence above is important news.
What is Section 31aa?
Section 31aa of Michigan's State School Aid Act (MCL 388.1631aa) is the state's student mental health and safety fund — and its per-pupil program is not a competitive grant. Every eligible district, charter school, ISD, and nonpublic school that applies will be funded. This year, mental health funding is capped at $73.53 per student, and school safety funding is capped at $147.06 per student.
And the mental health funds come with no strings attached. The requirement to agree to a state investigation and waive certain privileges now applies only to the school safety funds, not the mental health funds. If your board passed on 31aa funding in a prior year because of that requirement, it's worth a second look.
Where does The Positivity Project fit in 31aa funding?
Subsection (2)(k) is the newest of 31aa's allowable uses — and it's conjunctive, meaning a program has to check every clause, not just one. So, let's break it down.
"Evidence-based." P2 meets the criteria for a Tier 2 evidence-based intervention under ESSA. Dr. Justin D. Garwood — Professor of Education at the University of Vermont and author of more than 55 peer-reviewed journal articles — has independently studied P2's impact. His peer-reviewed research found significant reductions in students' internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, improved teacher-student relationship quality, and enhanced sense of relatedness among P2 students. He also found that teachers implement P2 with 94% fidelity — nearly double the rate typically seen with social-emotional learning interventions.
"Character- and relationship-building." Daily 15-minute, teacher-led lessons on positive psychology's 24 character strengths and the Other People Mindset — in every classroom. At P2, daily lessons are deliberate because we believe that consistency is how character becomes culture.
"Family engagement." P2 for Families sends each week's character strength home with weekly lessons and family letters — in English and in Spanish — so the vocabulary students learn at school gets spoken at the dinner table. Each week also includes a non-tech downloadable activity to engage families in each character strength.
"Service learning" and "project-based character development." P2 provides service learning opportunities. And, P2's project-based learning library includes 30+ differentiated units spanning grades K-12: school-wide projects that unite students across grade levels in serving people in their school and community, and class-based units that challenge students to apply character strengths to authentic, real-world problems — research, build, reflect, and present.
"Positive student-educator relationships." The peer-reviewed study "Change in Teacher-Student Relationship Quality During a Tier-One Character Education Intervention" found that students and teachers "experienced higher rates of closeness and lower rates of conflict" as a result of The Positivity Project, compared to a control group that didn't use it.
"Whole-school culture." One shared character vocabulary, PreK-12, across every classroom and assembly. Our Results page documents what that looks like school by school — in behavior, attendance, and belonging. Behavior: a school that went from 1,672 referable incidents to 116. Attendance: an elementary school that cut chronic absenteeism from 17.7% to 5.5% across four consecutive years of improvement. Belonging: a middle school where, after one quarter, students reporting that their teachers care about them as individuals rose from 54% to 87% — and students reporting they feel safe at school rose from 66% to 75%. And, a principal who wrote that when implemented purposefully and consistently, "P2 opens the door to the place students and staff want to be."
P2 supports the counselors, screeners, and safety upgrades for which 31aa was built. P2 strengthens the whole system that those investments serve — because, as we've said before, one counselor can't carry a school culture alone. That work must be distributed among the staff so that character become the culture.
What can districts do now?
Three things:
- Apply as soon as you can. Applications are filed through MDE's NexSys system, using MiLogin. The earlier you apply, the sooner the money arrives. Each deadline is 5 p.m. Eastern, and each district can apply only once.
- Apply by November 9, 2026: funds arrive in the December state aid payment
- Apply by December 7, 2026: January payment
- Apply by January 4, 2027: February payment
- Apply by April 12, 2027: May payment
- Keep the application simple. The application only asks whether your district wants the funds. You don't need a spending plan to apply. In spring 2027, MDE will return applications so districts can report how they spent the money. That update also serves as the expense report due July 1, 2027.
- Plan your spending. This year's funds can be spent from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, and districts can request one more year through their expense report. Districts also need to coordinate with their ISD to avoid duplicating services. Funds from prior years don't qualify for character education, because the (k) language is new this year.
For questions about allowable expenses, MDE's 31aa team can be reached at MDE-31aa@Michigan.gov. You can find MDE's full FAQ here.
The bigger point
We can't control every challenge our students carry through the door. But, what we can control is whether every classroom in a building shares a habit of daily connection, a vocabulary for character, and a mindset focused on other people. And, Michigan law now recognizes character education for what it is: part of keeping students safe and well.
If your district wants help claiming these funds — whether or not you ever partner with us — we'll walk your business office through the opt-in step by step. To learn more, please connect with us.
