A statewide MEA member survey showed educators are paying on average $200 more per month in out-of-pocket health care costs this year, highlighting why House Bill 6058 must be delivered to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for signature without further delay.

HB 6058 fixes a state law passed in 2011 that capped the amount employers could pay toward health care costs for educators and other public employees.

The Legislature passed the measure last December, but new House leadership in January refused to send it to the governor as required by the state Constitution. A lawsuit by Senate Democrats is working through the courts.

More than 1,700 members answered the MEA survey, and results were released to news media in September.

“The stall of House Bill 6058 has had a massive detrimental impact on our family,” said Kyle Saari, a teacher in Negaunee Public Schools. “At the beginning of last year, I was excited because we finally received a 5% raise, but that was wiped out by a 12+% increase in health care costs. As a result, my take home pay became nearly less than it was without the raise.”

Read the survey release and follow updates at mea.org/fixhealthcare.

QUOTABLES

“It is unfair that I commit so much to my community by educating the next generation while I struggle to pay for medical expenses for my own family. I teach children with special needs, and I have my own child with medical needs that I am increasingly paying more for.”

MEA member Emily Friedman, a special education teacher in Troy, who had to switch health care plans and take on two additional jobs because of rising health care costs, quoted in an MEA press release from a member survey.

Above and Beyond: Warren school social worker honored

MEA member Melissa Wheeler, a social worker at Beer Middle School in Warren, has been named Michigan School Social Worker of the Year by the Michigan Association of School Social Workers (MASSW).

A 15-year veteran of Warren Consolidated School District, Wheeler has implemented peer-to-peer programs and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiatives in every school where she’s worked.

“I see my role as building bridges — between students and resources, between families and schools, and between challenges and solutions,” Wheeler said.

“What I love most about working in public schools is the chance to be part of a diverse community where every day brings a new opportunity to support and empower young people during such an important stage of their lives.”

Rochester school honors Escanaba man

MEA member Matt Cottone, a Rochester social studies teacher, returned to Escanaba to add a final touch to a special project from last year.

In 2024, Cottone and a former student traveled to France for ceremonies recognizing the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in World War II. Teacher and student researched and eulogized U.S. Navy seaman Auvergne Breault, an Escanaba man who died at age 20 in the invasion on June 6, 1944.

This year Cottone donated a bench in Escanaba for which his school raised money to honor Breault.

“We had over 40 people show up for the official dedication,” he said.

Cottone enjoys bringing the world to his students. This summer he traveled on an Earthwatch fellowship to Brazil’s rainforest and in October he will attend a workshop in New Zealand with the Korean Legacy Foundation.

Read more about the visit to Normandy at mea.org/Rochester-d-day-project.