Blog
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023: Public Education Funding
◼ Continue historic investments in early childhood through higher education — including increases to both base funding and equity needs to meet different student needs (from special education and poverty to transportation and program availability for rural schools). ◼ Encourage school districts and higher education employers to invest funding increases in employee recruitment and retention efforts. ◼ […]
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023: Educator Compensation
◼ Allow public employers to pay a greater share of health insurance costs (beyond the current 80% or hard cap limitations) to improve school employee take home pay. ◼ Repeal the pension tax that reduces the retirement security of school employees and others seniors across Michigan. ◼ Work with employers to increase wages for all […]
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023: Collective Bargaining & Job Security Rights
◼ Repeal prohibited subjects of bargaining to provide employee voice in the workplace on job placement and security, outsourcing, evaluation, just cause requirements for dismissal, and more. ◼ Remove automatic penalties for school employees when working under an expired contract, like step freezes and pass-through of health insurance cost increases. ◼ Allow school employees […]
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023: Evaluation & Testing
◼ Fix the teacher evaluation system to make it developmental rather than punitive by removing state testing data, changing “effectiveness” labels, ensuring educator voice in the process and providing due process for evaluation appeals. ◼ Streamline and minimize assessment requirements to reduce both time spent and high-stakes assigned to standardized testing. ◼ Take advantage of freedom […]
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023: Student Academic Support
◼ Repeal third-grade reading retention, shifting focus from punishing students who under-perform on standardized tests to supporting their individual literacy needs. ◼ Invest proper resources for PreK-3 reading intervention (such as “individual reading plans”), provide educators with professional latitude for assessments, and develop consistent post-fourth-grade literacy supports to help students get the support they need. […]
Key MEA Legislative Priorities for 2023
From school safety and student mental health to curriculum flexibility and overhauling how public education is paid for in Michigan, there is a long list of pro-education policies that the Legislature and Gov. Whitmer need to address over the long term. MEA’s legislative agenda for the coming years is set by the MEA Legislation Commission, […]
Whitmer, Pringle speak of hope and change at MEA Winter Conference
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Gov. Gretchen Whitmer energized the MEA Winter Conference in Detroit on Friday with a heartening message to a capacity crowd that she described as “the fiercest warriors there are, the people that make a difference in so many lives every single day, who are too often under-thanked and under-appreciated: […]
Labor Voices: Lawmakers should act quickly to implement Whitmer’s tutoring plan
The pandemic’s impact on our children’s learning is well documented – now state leaders must make academic recovery a top priority and focus resources on school-based tutoring to get students the help they need. Between COVID, remote learning, mental health, school violence and more, Michigan students have struggled with unprecedented challenges these past few years. […]
Third-grade retention requirement closer to repeal
Editor’s note: Please get in touch with your state senator and representative and urge them to vote to repeal third-grade reading retention and support meaningful reading interventions to help our kids grow and thrive. The controversial retention portion of Michigan’s third-grade reading law is one step closer to being repealed after the state Senate Education Committee […]