As 2023 comes to a close, we have so much to celebrate as educators and believers in the promise of public education. Together with the friends of education we helped to elect, we’ve accomplished so much in Lansing for our students, our schools and our colleagues.

Record levels of funding for PK-12, community colleges and universities. Free breakfast and lunch for all students. Resources for student mental health support and school safety. Student loan forgiveness and pay increases for educators. Scholarships for educator recruitment and pay for student teachers. Additional funding for rural transportation.

We never stopped demanding fixes to the broken, one-size-fits-all teacher evaluation system, so punitive in nature. Now a new law passed this fall mandates locally-driven evaluation standards to help educators grow and develop their craft.

We pressed for our collective rights back and eliminated prohibited subjects of bargaining, so we can once again bargain on critical topics like teacher placement, evaluation, and support staff privatization – including restoring payroll deduction of dues and PAC contributions.

Lawmakers heard our pleas and increased school safety measures in the aftermath of Oxford and MSU, passing commonsense gun safety legislation on universal background checks, safe storage of firearms and extreme risk protection orders.

Leaders in Lansing phased out the unfair retirement tax and expanded tax relief for lower-wage workers, changed the default retirement option for new hires to the hybrid pension system, and repealed third-grade reading retention.

The list goes on, and there’s more to do in 2024. We are grateful for the amazing work of MEA’s members, leaders and staff to deliver these victories for our state and our profession.

Together we’re strengthening our public schools to ensure a great education for every child, restoring respect for education professions so vital to our communities, and driving school innovations that nurture and develop our students who are the shining future of Michigan.

From all of us at MEA, Happy Holidays!

In Solidarity Always,

Chandra Madafferi, MEA President
Brett Smith, Vice President
Aaron Eling, Secretary-Treasurer