Casting aside the actual challenges facing Michigan schools, Republican state legislators this week have focused on advancing divisive legislation meant to fire up their political base and drive a wedge between educators and parents. On Tuesday, the Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee passed House Bill 5097, which would restrict Michigan educators from teaching students […]
On Tuesday, the Michigan House of Representatives voted down House Bill 5859, which would have created a pseudo-voucher system to provide private tutoring programs for students, diverting taxpayer money away from public schools and into the pockets of private, for-profit vendors with little oversight. The bill, which was strongly opposed by MEA and other education […]
We all watched in horror the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, where 26 people, including 20 first-graders — precious kids with their whole lives in front of them — were murdered in a hail of bullets. A few years later, we watched what happened at Stoneman Douglas High School: 14 children and three school staff, […]
Part 5 of our 5-part “Freedom to Read” series By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association Near the end of May two members of the Michigan State Board of Education proposed a resolution seeking to criminalize the work of teachers, librarians and administrators who allow students to read library books deemed “inappropriate” by […]
Last Thursday, after MEA helped increase pressure on lawmakers, the House and the Senate passed HB 6012, a supplemental budget appropriation for Oxford Community Schools in the aftermath of the tragic school shooting there on Nov. 30. The bill provides $9.8 million for Oxford to spend over two years, with funds allocated for: personnel, additional […]
Part 4 of our 5-part “Freedom to Read” series By Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor Michigan Education Association MEA member Troy Hicks has always been aware of the dangers of censorship as a professor of English and education at Central Michigan University. But he remembers when his thoughts grew into concerns this year. A troubling […]
Dear MEA Family, There aren’t words to convey adequate emotions – heartbreak, rage, fear, frustration – after yesterday’s senseless shooting deaths of 19 children and 2 teachers in a Texas elementary school. After what happened just six months ago in Oxford, yesterday’s events are resurfacing many of the same feelings for all of us […]
