Gov. Gretchen Whitmer averted a government shutdown on Monday by signing a state budget sent to her on the eve of a fiscal-year deadline, but she used her veto pen to press Republican leaders in the state House and Senate to return to the negotiating table. Whitmer described the Legislature’s budget as “fatally flawed” in…
Serving as a state representative isn’t much different from being an elementary school teacher, according to educator-turned-lawmaker Lori Stone (D-Warren), who told her story to attendees at MEA’s Summer Conference last week. The 14-year classroom veteran and MEA member said every legislative session starts with the pledge of allegiance. Seats are assigned. “And I still…
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…
Across the state, MEA members are still excited about the #RedForEd movement we’ve built in Michigan. After the success of the “Wear Red Wednesday Walk-Ins” in the spring, thousands of MEA members continued to wear red every Wednesday straight through the summer and as this new school year kicks off. But while this red-clad show…
By Brenda Ortega
MEA Editor
I remember in June 2013 when Republican lawmaker – now candidate for lieutenant governor – Lisa Posthumus Lyons stood on the floor of the state House of Representatives and derided school employees with an offensive animal metaphor to portray them as greedy and lazy.
A bill was under consideration to dissolve two financially struggling school districts in cities hard hit by job and population losses – Inkster and Buena Vista near Saginaw – and disperse those students to neighboring districts.
Parents and children were about to lose their community schools, and school employees were poised to lose their jobs. None of them got much compassion or understanding from Rep. Lyons, then chair of the House Education Committee.
Lyons was opposed to a Democratic-sponsored amendment, supported by MEA, to require the neighboring districts receiving the students to interview displaced school employees for job openings and pay them according to their years of experience if hired.
Thanks in large part to the volunteerism and votes of MEA members and their families across the state, I’m happy to say Gretchen Whitmer is our candidate for governor in November! Together, we will make public education a priority again in Michigan by valuing students, respecting educators and funding our schools. And we need to be…
Educators have more time and additional opportunities to provide feedback to both the state and MEA on controversial proposed changes to Michigan’s K-12 social studies standards.
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has extended the deadline for submitting online comments and added new dates for in-person feedback. In addition, MEA wants your thoughts on the proposed standards to help guide a formal position statement the union will be submitting. Visit MEA’s Action Network page to view the standards and share your feedback with us.
Proposed changes pushed by conservative Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton) have sparked criticism and heightened public interest in the debate over what children should learn about history and human society from kindergarten through high school.
LANSING – Following last week’s Court of Claims ruling that school employees were owed additional interest on 3 percent of earnings illegally withheld from them by the state, leaders of the unions that made the request of the court called on the state to not appeal the case any further.
As Betsy DeVos continues to push an agenda that would erode public education, it’s more important than ever to elect a governor that believes in public schools. Gretchen Whitmer’s record speaks for itself. Whitmer spent more than a decade in the State Legislature as a tireless advocate for our kids, public schools and the dedicated…
