“We’re not going to leave a state in worse shape than when we were running it for our kids in the future,” he said. “It is our responsibility, and I feel it’s important, that we work as hard as possible to clean things up so our kids have the greatest state to have in terms of not having the issues we’re having to address today.”

With this budget, it was important that lawmakers faced reality and created a plan that will live within Michigan’s means, said House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall.

“Our budget is balanced structurally, finally,” Bolger said.

But state Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, said, contrary to the governor’s claims, this budget does include a major one-time funding fix.

Many of the state’s expenses have been moved from the General Fund to the School Aid Fund, requiring the cut of about $1 billion to public education, he said.

“I think I voted against every part of this budget,” Meadows said. “It’s a budget with unnecessary cuts to public education contained in it.”

The budget was adopted by the state Legislature at the end of May, meeting Snyder’s goal of having it pass by May 31, earlier than a state budget has been passed in years.

This early approval of the budget will allow school districts and local municipalities, most of whose fiscal years end June 30, to better plan their own budgets based on state appropriations.

But Snyder said the speed with which the budget was passed wasn’t the only new standard set this year. The quality of this budget also is unprecedented, he said.

“By us being fiscally responsible — by creating an environment that’s going to be stable, thoughtful, predictable and transparent on the budgeting side helps create that environment for business and free enterprise to work,” Snyder said.

Bolger said difficult decisions had to be made in order to balance the budget. Lawmakers knew they were asking citizens to sacrifice.

“(But) the state will be in a much healthier place, ready to forge ahead,” Bolger said. “(It will be) ready to be a state that can attract jobs, grow our economy, keep our kids and grand kids here and be very stable and fertile going forward.”

The state better will be able to remain fiscally responsible in the future because of this year’s balanced budget, said Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe.

“We have set a foundation,” he said.

Although he’s glad the budget is completed, Meadows said it isn’t much of an accomplishment. This budget does not consider Michigan’s future generations as Snyder claims, he said.

“There’s no long-term planning contained in this budget,” Meadows said. “That’s the same thing every governor has said when they’ve signed every budget.”

In addition to determining appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year, Snyder said lawmakers also planned for their second year budget.

Snyder said he hopes to address matters of education during next year’s budget discussion, including higher education and finding better funding mechanisms for the state’s universities.