Legislation

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 Republican leaders in the House…

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 of in-person learning options in…

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, once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in…

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 drivers from passing stopped busses…

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 this concept, school districts would…

As federally mandated testing is underway and the school year enters its final two months, the time is NOW for lawmakers to take action on bills removing student growth data from teacher evaluations and delaying the implementation of third grade reading retention. While using standardized test data to retain students and judge teacher effectiveness is always a bad policy decision,…

The State Legislature returns to Lansing this week after Spring Break to a long “to do” list of important topics for public education. Federal COVID Relief and 2021-22 Education Budgets With COVID-19 cases on the rise, ensuring safety and student learning assistance are critical.  The Legislature still has $841 million in federal COVID relief funding from December to send out…

Republican lawmakers’ politically motivated withholding of federal funds for safe reopening of schools is an immoral – and legally questionable – stance amid a COVID-19 surge in Michigan that is among the highest in the nation, four State School Board members said this week. Pamela Pugh The situation is especially stark in traditionally marginalized communities of color, which have borne…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor MEA member Ryan Ridenour has never known a teacher evaluation system other than the one used in Michigan since 2015. Still the world history and psychology teacher, in his sixth year at West Bloomfield, has found key problems with the state’s method for scoring, rating, and ranking educators. “I know the modern education system…

Update 3/9 – On Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed HB 4048 releasing federal COVID relief funding for schools as laid out below, but announced she was vetoing HB 4049 – the bill limiting gubernatorial epidemic powers around school closure and athletics which the Republican Legislature tied to the release of $840 million in those federal funds.  The administration has asked for immediate negotiations with the…