ELECTIONS MATTER >> MEA members look back to move ahead in Election 2026

August 24, 2026August 27, 2026

Stories by Brenda Ortega, MEA Voice Editor
Michigan Education Association

MEA member Greta Brock comes from a family of educators and has spent 29 years working with special education students in Boyne City, where she is local union president. Nearing the end of her career, she wants newer educators to know the importance of elections.

Brock is part of a generation of teachers, now retiring or getting close, whose careers split into two distinct eras: before and after the tenure of Gov. Rick Snyder, who held office from 2011-19.

“For some younger people, it’s now been long enough ago that they don’t remember what happened with Snyder,” said Brock, who has served for 12 years on the MEA Board of Directors.

Huge budget cuts. Financial losses. Punitive evaluations tied to high-stakes testing. Attacks on collective bargaining and job protections. Privatization of support staff. Educators felt devalued and demoralized, spurring an educator shortage.

“Nobody was listening to teachers,” agrees MEA member Kelly Eddy, a 30-year social studies teacher and union president in Livonia. “It just felt like we couldn’t win, so a lot of people left.”

Since then, hard-won election victories by pro-public education candidates led to reversals of some of the most harmful Snyder-era policies, and school funding increased every year since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, Eddy said. But much work remains to be done.

“I worry our young people think it’s always going to keep improving — and it can, but we have to vote and put the right people in office.”

Our special report, ELECTIONS MATTER, features an array of MEA members discussing recent history, the current state of public education in Michigan, and how we can move forward in this fall’s critical local, state and federal elections.

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