Author: Miriam Garcia
MEA president praises Whitmer’s plan to repeal retirement tax
EAST LANSING — Michigan Education Association President Paula Herbart issued the following statement Wednesday in reaction to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address: “The Michigan Education Association strongly supports Governor Whitmer’s proposal to finally eliminate Michigan’s unfair retirement tax. Michigan seniors cannot continue shouldering such a heavy burden while corporate special interests enjoy […]
DeVos and “dark money” fueling new voucher scheme ballot initiative
In an op-ed in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press, campaign finance and school privatization expert Maurice Cunningham laid out where the money is coming from for a new voucher scheme that is being circulated as a ballot measure. “Campaign finance records show that Let MI Kids Learn has raised over $1.7 million,” Cunningham wrote. “Michiganders who […]
Contact Your Lawmakers – Suspend This Year’s Evaluations
Earlier this month, MEA joined with other education organizations in a letter from State Superintendent Michael Rice to lawmakers urging the suspension of evaluations this year due to the pandemic. The letter requested that the Legislature “amend state law to let our educators—teachers and building administrators—focus exclusively on the needs of children this year rather […]
Register Now for Exciting Election 2022 Kickoffs Next Week
MEA is hosting three virtual events next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to kick off our Election 2022 work, including a special event Tuesday evening with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. See below for the rundown on the events and click the links to RSVP. We look forward to seeing you on Zoom! Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 6:30 […]
Whitmer to Push Pension Tax Repeal in State of the State
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is set to deliver her annual State of the State message on Wednesday evening, during which she will urge the Legislature to repeal the pension tax implemented under her predecessor, Rick Snyder. According to media reports, Whitmer will call for the rollback of the tax implemented on seniors’ pensions enacted in 2012, […]
MEA wins national communications honors
Several MEA communications efforts over the past two years won awards this week from the State Education Affiliate Communicators, with MEA competing against similarly sized NEA state affiliates from across the country. In case you missed any of these award winning pieces when they originally were published, you can check them out below (with the category […]
Registration Open for Winter Webinar Series
Finding light and being the light during dark times. That’s the theme of MEA’s winter webinar series, “The Light of Winter Stars.” An offering of MEA’s Center for Leadership & Learning, this new series of peer-led, SCHEH-eligible webinars will run from January 18 through March 24. Topics for this series include managing stress and anxiety […]
More Professional And Personal Growth Opportunities for the New Year
— The MEA Center for Leadership & Learning will be launching a new SCECH-eligible book study next month. “The Laramie Project,” by Moises Kaufman, is a play that explores the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming. After going through the original play, participants will then read the epilogue, “The […]
Labor Voices: Real solutions, not stopgaps, needed to fix educator shortage
In recent days, rising COVID-19 cases mixed with staffing shortages have forced many school districts to switch to virtual instruction or cancel classes. It’s a numbers game when there aren’t enough adults to safely have students in school. The pandemic has exacerbated Michigan’s acute educator shortage. The heightened stress, crushing additional workloads, and destructive political […]