Michigan should have a leaner state budget than it did last year, and its spending priority should be funding roads and schools.

Those are the objectives the Legislature and governor should reach for in ongoing budget negotiations. An agreement must be achieved by Oct. 1 to avert a partial government shutdown.

It should be possible if all parties accept the reality that the federal dollars that flooded into the state during the COVID pandemic are largely gone. The intent of that funding was to get Michigan through a crisis, not to permanently and explosively increase the size of state government.

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