In a rare break from her work as a School Success liaison at Sanborn Elementary, Lisa Werth laughs when asked what she does all day. She picks lice out of hair, comforts kids whose parents are getting divorced, supervises reading lessons, finds transportation for those who can鈥檛 get to school and hands out more Slim Jims and granola bars than she can count.
She鈥檚 not a teacher, counselor or school employee. But the work she and colleagues do at more than 50 schools in the northeast Lower Peninsula is succeeding where the state has struggled:
Increasing school attendance.
The is credited with improving grades among vulnerable students by serving as a bridge between schools, families and community services in 12 counties.
Hailed as a model program, it鈥檚 facing drastic cuts: Almost half its funding comes from a $1.5 million allocation from the state that is absent from the proposed 2026-27 budgets of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the House or the Senate.
Local officials point to what they consider the irony of a state that is defunding a program that data indicate is working.
鈥淲ho鈥檚 going to do this鈥� if the program is downsized, asked Kori Knudson, principal at Sanborn Elementary, a rural school about 13 miles south of Alpena. 鈥淚t makes such a difference when we build these relationships with families, when we can help regulate students.
鈥淗ow can we do all that work?鈥�
Higher attendance, higher grades
Among 20 elementary schools with School Success liaisons based in their buildings, 16 had chronic absenteeism rates below the state K-5 average of 24.7% in 2024-25, according to a Bridge Michigan analysis of the most recent data available.
Onaway Elementary School, in Presque Isle County, went from 20.6% chronic absenteeism rate in 2023-24 to 12.8% the following year when a school success partnership liaison was placed in the school.
Higher attendance means higher grades, said Tina Williams, director of Alternative Education of Iosco County & Ogemaw County, which houses three School Success liaisons across four sites.
鈥淚f your body is in school, we鈥檙e going to be able to help you move forward academically,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not coming in, we have very little control over what we can do to help a student.鈥�
The , operated through the nonprofit Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency, does what school officials don鈥檛 have time to do 鈥� work intensely with at-risk students and families, inside and outside of school.
鈥淲e remove the barriers to be able to work with the family first, get their basic needs met, so they can focus on their child,鈥� said Dorothy Pintar, longtime director of the School Success Partnership program.
The program started in 1991 in Alpena Public Schools and has expanded rapidly in the past two decades as Michigan鈥檚 test scores plummeted. The last time Michigan鈥檚 fourth graders scored above the national average in reading . In the most recent national test, Michigan ranked 44th, and poor school attendance is considered by experts to be one of the primary causes.
According to the most recent data, Michigan had the , with more than a quarter (28%) of students missing 10% or more of school days.
Werth, the program supervisor who is also serving as the liaison at Sanborn, attends soccer games and doctor鈥檚 appointments of children she鈥檚 working with.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the student,鈥� Werth said. 鈥淲e work with the family, because if you don鈥檛 take care of the family, the student鈥檚 not going to win.鈥�
On a recent Friday, Werth put food in the lockers of students so they wouldn鈥檛 go hungry over the weekend and worked with a student on a classroom assignment in the hallway.
鈥淭hey do all the things between classroom and home that maybe a teacher can鈥檛 tackle because we want them to teach and maybe an administrator can鈥檛 fully tackle either,鈥� Knudson said.
State switches gears
In a statement to Bridge, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services defended the defunding, saying School Success is redundant with a program expected to expand statewide this summer.
That program, called , embeds family resource specialists with child protection and foster care staffers to connect families with social services like Medicaid.
The $26 million program currently operates in 72 counties, primarily those not now being served by School Success.
鈥淏oth (programs) take a preventative approach to help stabilize families before a severe crisis may occur,鈥� the statement said.
While both programs work to support at-risk children and their families, there are significant differences.
Grand Traverse County is one of the few counties currently served by both programs.
Traverse City Superintendent John VanWagoner told Bridge Michigan he鈥檇 not had contact with any employees of the Family Impact Team in the six years he鈥檚 been the leader of the 8,600 student district, while the School Success liaison officers housed in four of the district鈥檚 elementary schools see hundreds of students annually.
VanWagoner was familiar with the School Success program from his time as superintendent in Alpena, and asked the northeast Michigan-based program to expand to Traverse City.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a critical program that helps a ton of northern Michigan students,鈥� VanWagoner said. 鈥淲hen we鈥檙e trying to improve third-grade reading scores, living in poverty often makes that a struggle. This is one of the key things we鈥檝e had success with.鈥�
Slipping scores
Education has in the November election to select the state鈥檚 next governor, and Whitmer says improving literacy is her .
Only 25% of Michigan fourth graders were deemed proficient in the most recent , compared to 30% nationally.
Several educators told Bridge that downsizing the School Success program would add to the challenges of rural northern Michigan students, who typically have fewer Advanced Placement courses and career tech offerings.
Northeast Michigan is one of the two regions of the state with the lowest college enrollment and college readiness scores as measured by the SAT, according to an .
Just over half, 51.2%, of high school grads enroll in college within 12 months in this region of forests and rivers, compared to 59% statewide.
Alpena parent Taylor Schuch said the program was a life-changer for her daughter, who came into kindergarten with behavioral issues and now is a straight-A fifth grader.
Lisa Werth, the liaison who works with her family, 鈥渉as brought in food and 鈥� helped at Christmas,鈥� Schuch said.
鈥淚 cannot imagine her excelling like she is now (without School Success). The relationship is more than faculty, it鈥檚 like family. It cannot be matched.鈥�
An hour south in Tawas City, 17-year-old Bella Verdusco says she probably would have quit school if not for her relationship with Madison Nachtrieb, the School Success liaison at Alternative Education of Iosco County & Ogemaw County.
鈥淵ou ask for help, and she says 鈥橶hat do you need? I鈥檓 here to help you,鈥� Verdusco said.
鈥淭hese guys just need love,鈥� said Tina Williams, director at the alternative school in Tawas City where Verdusco is a student. 鈥淭hey need those relationships, they need a chance to build trust again, because a lot of times in their past they鈥檝e had adults that have hurt them and they鈥檝e learned that they can鈥檛 trust. It is challenging, but it鈥檚 not impossible.鈥�
Williams said it would be 鈥渄evastating鈥� if her students didn鈥檛 have easy access to School Success liaisons.
鈥淲e want our teachers to teach,鈥� Williams said. 鈥淭hey look at academics. School Success deals with the non-academic barriers that affect academic success.鈥�
An ally in Lansing?
Three years ago, the School Success Program won a for its work with youth, with the award presented to Pintar by Whitmer.
Now, the $3.4 million program faces a crippling decline in funding that would likely force Pintar to lay off employees and pull out of some schools.
Pintar said she will ask schools to expand their contributions, which now total 47% of costs. Several school leaders who spoke to Bridge said additional school funding is unlikely.
Pintar and Traverse City鈥檚 VanWagoner told Bridge they are pleading with legislators for more money 鈥� and may have an ally in Rep. John Roth.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a misunderstanding of what all the program is,鈥� said the Interlochen Republican who chairs the committee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services鈥� budget. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a community action agency that maneuvers along with schools.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to put it on my list for one-time funding,鈥� Roth said.
Lawmakers are expected to approve the budget, which likely will tally about $80 billion, by September. In the meantime, Pintar is scrambling to apply for grants in hopes of salvaging as much of the program as possible.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just a small little blip, a small little item on the (budget),鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be really emotional for the kids and the parents and tough for the teachers, too.鈥�
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