# Mackinac Center for Public Policy The flagship Michigan-state-level conservative think tank within the [[State Policy Network]]. Founded in 1987 in Midland, Michigan — also home of the Dow Chemical company that has historically funded much of conservative Michigan politics — the Mackinac Center has been a longtime DeVos-funded operation. [[Betsy DeVos]] and [[Dick DeVos]] both served on its board, and the DeVos family foundations have been sustained funders. Annual budget approximately $7–8M. ## Right-to-Work: The Signature Victory The Mackinac Center's most consequential policy achievement was its central role in Michigan's 2012 right-to-work legislation. Michigan — the birthplace of the UAW, the historic heartland of organized labor in America — became the 24th right-to-work state in December 2012, a result that would have been unthinkable a decade earlier. The Mackinac Center provided the intellectual infrastructure: policy papers, economic analyses, legal strategy, and public messaging that supported the Republican legislature and Governor [[Rick Snyder]]'s decision to push the legislation through in a lame-duck session. The victory was subsequently reversed: in 2023, Michigan's Democratic trifecta repealed the right-to-work law, making Michigan the first state to repeal such a law in 58 years. The repeal illustrates both the vulnerability of state-level policy wins to electoral shifts and the degree to which right-to-work had become a partisan marker rather than a settled policy consensus. ## School Choice The Mackinac Center is a prominent voice in the school-choice coalition, advocating for vouchers, ESAs, and charter expansion in Michigan and serving as a research-and-litigation resource for the broader movement. Michigan's charter school sector — one of the largest in the country, with approximately 300 charter schools — was substantially shaped by the DeVos family's advocacy through the Mackinac Center and allied organizations. The center's school-choice work includes policy research, model legislation, and legal challenges to restrictions on charter expansion and public-school-funding formulas. ## DeVos Connection The relationship between the Mackinac Center and the DeVos family illustrates the KB's recurring pattern of wealthy donors building institutional infrastructure to advance policy goals. The DeVos family's school-choice activism operates through multiple channels — direct lobbying, campaign contributions, the [[American Federation for Children]] (which Betsy DeVos chaired before becoming Education Secretary), and think-tank funding through organizations like the Mackinac Center. The Mackinac Center provides the intellectual legitimacy and policy research that complement the DeVos family's political spending. ## State Policy Network Role As a [[State Policy Network]] member, the Mackinac Center participates in the national coordination of state-level conservative policy. SPN connects approximately 160 state-level think tanks that share research, model legislation, and messaging strategies. The Mackinac Center is one of the larger and more prominent members, particularly on labor and education policy. ## See Also - [[State Policy Network]] — The national network the Mackinac Center belongs to - [[Betsy DeVos]] — Board member; DeVos family is primary funder - [[Dick DeVos]] — Board member; DeVos family - [[School Choice Ecosystem]] — The broader movement - [[School Choice]] — The concept