MEA member Gary Cooper could have relaxed after retiring from a 30-year career as an autoworker at Ford Motor Co. Instead his upbringing eventually led the 64-year-old former UAW shop steward to a full-time role as a community assistant at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor. The support staff position requires him to wear “quite […]
EAST LANSING — With media coverage continuing to focus on Michigan's educator shortage, MEA has launched www.MichiganEducatorProject.org so the public can hear directly from front-line teachers and other education employees about what's driving the crisis. “Recruit. Respect. Retain.” Under that banner, the new site includes videos from educators – recorded both before and during the pandemic [...]
Every year at this time, talk of the state budget in Michigan can be confusing because of competing spending plans that must get negotiated. However, this year’s discussions about education funding have added complexity from various federal COVID relief acts for responding to the public health crisis. Also complicating the conversation is the fact that […]
MEA launches MiSchoolRelief.com to lookup federal funds pending by school district, contact lawmakers urging immediate distribution EAST LANSING — The following statement can be attributed to MEA President Paula Herbart on the House Republican proposal in this morning’s Appropriations Committee meeting to tie further COVID relief funds to a demand for 20 hours per week [...]
To showcase the state’s commitment to the labor movement and establish Michigan as a place for economic opportunity and prosperity for all, the Michigan Dept. of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) created a new online resource to celebrate, highlight and support the inaugural Workplace Rights Week, April 26 through May 1, as proclaimed by Gov. […]
Making real change is not easy, but working together and pressing through difficulty can get us past old barriers – as evidenced by recent guilty verdicts in last year’s killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, MEA President Paula Herbart said in a speech to last weekend’s MEA Representative Assembly. “Those verdicts are a […]
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke to delegates at the virtual MEA Representative Assembly last weekend about a variety of pressing issues on which educators need to make their voices heard. RELATED – Herbart Sings to Energize Work of MEA RA Funding Whitmer said billions in federal relief dollars for public schools in Michigan represent a can’t-be-missed, […]
EAST LANSING, Mich., April 23, 2021 — The Michigan Education Association today announced the recipients of the 2021 MEA Scholarships, honoring exemplary public school students from across the state who will be attending a Michigan public university next fall. Among the 444 applications submitted for scholarship awards this year, the MEA Scholarship Fund Trustees chose […]
On Tuesday, the State House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan, MEA-supported legislation designed to improve safety on Michigan school busses. Two of the bills, HBs 4201 & 4203, would prohibit unauthorized individuals from entering a school bus without the driver’s permission and allow for notices on busses about the prohibition. HBs 4202 & 4204 aim to prevent […]
House GOP budget proposals for the 2021-22 fiscal year unveiled this week included the concept of quarterly appropriations to state departments. Only distributing money for 25% of the year at a time would make it impossible for the state to accurately plan for the year. While the education budget was not among those unveiled with […]
