Blog
Whitmer Urges ‘Bold Investment’ with Budget Proposal
Michigan’s K-12 public schools would receive a $120-180 per-pupil boost in funding, plus additional aid to support the costlier needs of at-risk, special education, and career/technical students, under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s first state budget proposal released today. The governor’s spending blueprint follows the recommendations of several recent studies which examined Michigan’s school funding system and […]
Follow Snow Day, Teacher Evaluation Bills
HB 4206 to permanently waive days that schools are closed during a state of emergency declared by the governor got a hearing today in the House Education Committee. The bill could get voted on by the committee next week. Read more about the legislation. HB 4221 to return the percentage of an educator’s annual evaluation […]
Statement of MEA President Paula Herbart on Gov. Whitmer’s Education Budget Proposal
EAST LANSING – The following can be attributed to MEA President Paula Herbart regarding reports of Gov. Whitmer’s proposal to increase education funding in tomorrow’s budget presentation: “Research is clear – from the School Finance Research Collaborative to MSU’s recent study – that we can’t keep shortchanging our students and expect better results. Gov. Whitmer’s […]
Stark Choices: A Reflection on the Teach-in for Freedom
Editor’s Note: MEA member Rick Joseph, Michigan’s 2015-16 Teacher of the Year, recently joined with dozens of educators from across the country to call attention to the U.S. government’s prolonged confinement of immigrant children in crowded detention facilities. MEA helped to sponsor Joseph’s participation in the event. Here he reflects on the event’s meaning and importance. […]
Urge Legislators to Act on Reintroduced Evaluation Bills
A bill to reduce the weight of student test scores in teacher evaluations has been reintroduced in the Michigan Legislature, along with a few other evaluation-related measures that failed to pass in the last legislative session. HB 4221, introduced by Rep. Julie Alexander (R-Hanover), would return the percentage of an educator’s annual evaluation that is […]
Bill to Cut WorkKeys Test Passes Committee
Michigan’s high school juniors would have one less standardized test to take each spring, under legislation that passed out of the House Education Committee on Tuesday. HB 4162 would eliminate the ACT WorkKeys career readiness test from the Michigan Merit Examination required of juniors, which also includes the SAT and the M-STEP science and social studies […]
Snow Day Debate Underway in Lansing
With districts across the state at – or well beyond – the allowed number of snow days, lawmakers are beginning to debate allowing additional days, especially given the historic “polar vortex” that hit the Lower Peninsula last month. Rep. Ben Frederick (R-Owosso) has introduced HB 4206, which aims to permanently waive days when schools are closed […]
Unlikely Path Leads to Teaching
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Brian Taylor moved to Michigan with his wife 20 years ago having never visited the state, and he became a teacher in West Ottawa 16 years ago having never graduated from high school nor earned an equivalency degree. As a teenager in Oregon, Taylor was “a non-conformist […]
A Clarion Call
In the light of current national events, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently made a call for strengthening civics education. She made the statement as she announced her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and planned withdrawal from public life. “It is my great hope that our nation will commit to educating our youth […]