While the Legislature has been off for nearly a month on their CUT summer break – despite next year’s state budget being unfinished – concepts continue to float around the Capitol about how to pay for needed road repairs. The latest bad idea involves various ways of borrowing against school employee pension funds to fill…
ICYMI: Watch presidential candidates answer education questions from NEA members Earlier this month, the entire field of candidates for president were invited to a forum on education issues at the NEA Representative Assembly in Houston. Ten candidates accepted the invite and answered questions submitted by NEA members from across the country on topics ranging from…
The Michigan Supreme Court this week agreed to hear a case involving an appropriation of tax dollars for private schools by the Michigan Legislature in 2016. A coalition of education groups sued the state over a $2.5 million appropriation of tax dollars to reimburse private schools for certain expenses related to state health and safety…
At the second of two June education funding rallies in Lansing on Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called out Republican leaders in the state Legislature for taking a summer recess without passing a state budget. Addressing a crowd of about 1,000 #RedForEd rallygoers on the Capitol Lawn, Whitmer thanked educators for showing up for students every…
By Brenda Ortega Editor Like many mid-career teachers in Michigan today, English teacher Maureen Horan can document the decline of her income starting in 2011. Not only did her salary decrease that year, but new state laws deducted more money from her paycheck for health care premiums and retirement which ate into her take-home pay.…
Since MEA’s new discount program with Staples launched late last year, members who’ve signed up have saved thousands of dollars on supply purchases. But we know many haven’t signed up yet to take advantage of the savings. That’s why Staples and 3M are sponsoring a special contest for MEA members to win a “classroom refresh”…
Center Line math teacher Robert Boccomino retired at the end of last week after a 25-year career in education, but that didn’t stop him from showing up at the Michigan Capitol on Tuesday to fight for the future of new and aspiring educators coming up behind him. “I’m doing this for the younger teachers, because…
June 19, 2019 By PAULA HERBART/President – Michigan Education Association Unions learned an important lesson decades ago: collective action gets results. Tuesday, educators from the Michigan Education Association and American Federation of Teachers Michigan — along with parents, students, and other public education supporters — descended on the Capitol to urge legislators to “Value Students, Respect…
By Brenda Ortega Editor Four years ago, MEA member Brady Crites returned to teach at his high school alma mater in Rochester after earning a Bachelor’s degree in Germanic Languages and Literature and obtaining secondary teaching certification at University of Michigan. But he couldn’t return to live in Rochester. He can’t afford it. Instead 26-year-old…
As spring heads into summer, state budget negotiations will heat up along with the weather—especially given big differences between the education priorities of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican leaders in the state House and Senate.
