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’t get to school and hands out more Slim Jims and granola bars than she can count.She’s 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 School Success Partnership program 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’s 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 struggling to improve literacy defunding a program that data indicate is working.
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