Should Michigan drop funding for public education? What about nixing reproductive healthcare? It’s all on the table if a ballot initiative takes effect this fall.
Every 16 years, Michigan voters head to the ballot box to decide whether legislators should be allowed to reexamine the state’s foundational laws. This every-16-years cycle is written into the Michigan constitution.
It’s called a constitutional convention question, or a “Con-Con.” Michigan is one of more than a dozen states across the US that periodically ask voters whether the state constitution should be reexamined. Residents of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island automatically have the chance to vote for a convention every decade. States like Missouri, New York, and Ohio hold them every 20 years.
Michigan’s current state constitution has been in effect since 1964. Since then, Michigan voters have strongly opposed holding a constitutional convention. During the last conventional question in 2010, over 60% of Michigan voters opposed changes.
While a constitutional convention is often marketed as an opportunity for voters to have a direct voice in state government, some Michiganders worry that Michigan Republicans, and any billionaire donors they may align themselves with, would use this opportunity to rewrite the rights that many Michiganders hold sacred—from unrestricted access to reproductive healthcare to free public education—and, ultimately, weaken the state legislature.
“A Con-Con would open up Michigan’s Constitution to a total and complete rewrite and allow anti-public school advocates to privatize schools, open the floodgates for vouchers, and enact anti-union policies statewide,” wrote the Michigan Education Association (MEA) Board of Directors in March. The board joins a broad coalition that’s spreading awareness about this fall’s ballot measure and how it could impact Michiganders across the state.
If Michiganders vote in favor of holding a constitutional convention this fall, they would then elect 148 delegates, one from each of Michigan’s House and Senate districts, over a series of elections to make changes to the state constitution beginning in 2027. The expense of holding a constitutional convention would come from taxpayer dollars—an estimated $50 to $60 million—and may require additional state funding to cover the operating costs.
From there, elected delegates would be given free rein to determine constitutional changes—with no set agenda, guardrails, or timeline for how long the process would take. Once edits are made, Michigan voters would vote on final approval in a special election.
What happened during the last constitutional convention in the US?
The last time a voter-approved constitutional convention took place in the US was in Rhode Island in 1986. The convention approved over two dozen amendments, which were bundled into 14 questions to fit on the ballot.
As a result of the votes at the convention, Rhode Island added several controversial amendments, including two that restricted reproductive freedom and another that expanded the number of people barred from voting because of a criminal record. Several of the amendments were later overturned after years of advocacy work by voting rights supporters.
The constitutional convention also frustrated educators and parents, especially those who had been advocating that lawmakers take the opportunity to establish a legally enforceable right to an education for all Rhode Island residents. Without this constitutional right, Rhode Island school districts rely heavily on local property taxes to keep their doors open, which inevitably creates financial and academic inequity between schools, impacting student achievement. This has led to several major lawsuits in recent years that were ultimately dismissed after judges ruled they lacked the constitutional authority to force the state Legislature to overhaul public education funding.
In 2024, state lawmakers, alongside ACLU Rhode Island, proposed a bill to amend the state constitution and guarantee the right to an adequate education, but it ultimately died in the House. Today, four decades after its last constitutional convention, Rhode Island residents are still fighting for these rights—alongside other struggles within their public education system.
What’s next for Michigan?
Michigan’s current state constitution, like Rhode Island’s, does not give residents a fundamental right to education. Michigan education attorneys argue that, without a constitutional provision, a large portion of Michigan students are missing out on a quality public education—and that constitutional questions create an opportunity for supporters of private education to establish a voucher program or further divert funding from public education that’s accessible to all Michiganders.
Chandra Madafferi, president and CEO of the MEA, agrees. This is why she’s encouraging Michigan voters to oppose the constitutional convention ballot proposal, otherwise known as Proposal 1, on their ballots this fall.
“For the sake of our kids, we must all work together to strengthen our hometown schools and provide every student an opportunity for success,” said Madafferi in a press release.
Watch: Should Michigan tear up its state Constitution and start over?
