LANSING – State Representative Robert Jones (D-Kalamazoo) hailed passage of the final 2008 state budget, which preserved funding for the Nurse Family Partnership and also includes a School Aid Fund plan that will increase financial support for Michigan's lowest-funded districts, allowing them to hire more teachers in high-demand subjects such as math and science, keep class sizes small and prepare Michigan's students for the good-paying jobs of the future.
Under the K-12 budget passed by the House on Tuesday, Kalamazoo Public Schools will receive more than $900,000 in increased school funding.
The Nurse Family Partnership provides home-based services to first-time, low-income women during their pregnancy and until the child reaches the age of 2. The program helps foster healthier pregnancies, children and families.
"The Nurse Family Partnership helps build stronger families, and through those families we build stronger communities," Jones said. "This invaluable program protects the safety and well-being of our littlest residents and their mothers. I am pleased that we were able to protect this program that serves some of our most vulnerable residents."