Category: Newsroom

National report calls for improving educator compensation – which new Michigan Senate education budget emphasizes

EAST LANSING – A new report issued today by the National Education Association underscores the importance of improving compensation for educators – something the state Senate’s proposed education budget takes seriously, as highlighted in its presentation today. Michigan is lagging behind other states when it comes to paying educators competitive wages, leading to educator shortages […]

by Elena Helmer

Tuition-free community college changes lives 

By Chris Curtis Chris Curtis is an award‑winning professor of psychology and former president of the faculty association at Delta College in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Like most professors, I’ve accumulated small gifts from students over my career: a Sigmund Freud pencil sketch, copies of Psychology for Dummies and The Journal of Irreproducible Results, [...]

by Elena Helmer

Growing Libraries with Representation

The Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM) wrapped up their latest reading/writing competition with an awards ceremony for students who were asked to analyze which voices were missing from their school’s book collections. The “Growing Libraries with Representation” project, funded by a CREATE grant from NEA, asked secondary students in Mason to survey their classroom and […]

by Elena Helmer

Educators define issues: You can help

Over a long career—first in the U.S. Army and now as a teacher in the career and technical education (CTE) field—MEA member Mike Cook has always used education and training to reinvent himself and build a resume of marketable skills. This year Cook began creating a new CTE program in Redford Union Schools, a western [...]

by Elena Helmer

The 2025 MEA Awards for Human Rights & Excellence

The MEA awards for Human Rights & Excellence are awarded at the MEA Winter Conference, MEA Summer Conference, and MEA Representative Assembly.  Nominations are accepted October 1 – December 31 of the previous year. Nominating individuals or groups must be MEA members in good standing. If the nominee to be considered is an MEA member, the […]

by Elena Helmer

Teacher of the Year talks educator retention

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Kelley Cusmano is the 2024-25 Michigan Teacher of the Year. In February, the Michigan Department of Education announced the 10 Regional Teachers of the Year who are finalists for the 2025-26 MTOY to be announced in May. Important work has been done in Michigan to attract new teachers into […]

by Elena Helmer