The following statement can be attributed to Michigan Education Association President and CEO Chandra Madafferi, a teacher from Oakland County, in response to the state House’s passage of House Bill 6058 and the Senate’s approval of Senate Bills 1129 and 1130:

“By taking swift action on this critical issue, the legislators have taken a critical step in reigning in skyrocketing health care costs for Michigan teachers and school support staff, which can keep the best and brightest educators working in our local schools and helping our students learn.

“Our students deserve to have great educators in every school, and we can only do that by allowing school districts to offer competitive wages and benefits that can keep talented educators in the profession. The Michigan Education Association applauds the state House and Senate for passing this important legislation, and we look forward to the state Senate concurring with House Bill 6058 next week.”

In 2011, state lawmakers passed Public Act 152, which placed a cap on how much school districts can spend on employees’ health coverage. The capped amount school districts are allowed to spend has not kept up with health care inflation, leading to educators paying an increasingly higher share of their districts’ total health insurance premiums. This has profoundly impacted educators’ lives, resulting in hundreds of dollars more taken out of every paycheck, making it harder to care for themselves and their families.

The financial crisis facing educators has reached a tipping point, as public employees’ health insurance rates are set to increase by double-digit percentages in 2025 — yet the state-mandated hard cap for what school districts can pay is only increasing 0.2%. As a result, many school employees could pay several thousand dollars more a year for health coverage.

HB 6058 will set a minimum floor for annual cap increases and provide school districts and educators with flexibility when bargaining health benefits. This will allow school employers to offer quality, affordable health benefits that can keep good educators in our schools and attract more talent to the education profession.

MEA is continuing to lobby in Lansing for changes on school employee pensions — take action today on HB 6060 here.