Legislation

Last November, Grosse Ile fifth grader Ava felt conflicted emotions when her teacher – MEA member Jaime Churches – won election to the state House of Students visit their former teacher, State Representative Jaime Churches, outside the Michigan Capitol. Representatives. She wanted Churches to win, but she didn’t want her to leave the classroom. On Thursday, with the school year…

UPDATE: The House Labor Committee passed House Bills 4354-4357 on Thursday, May 25. The legislation will now proceed to the full House for consideration, likely in June. In the early hours of Thursday morning, over a dozen MEA members from across the state made the drive to Lansing to make their voices heard in the Michigan House Labor Committee in…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Five years ago when Nadia Rodriguez took a teaching job in Flint Community Schools, she knew world-changing history – the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1937 – had played out on hallowed ground across the street from her K-3 Montessori classroom at Durant Tuuri Mott Elementary. Nadia Rodriguez A Flint native who grew up in…

Earlier this year, Gov. Whitmer proposed a $20.6 billion plan for the state education budget for the coming year. This week, the State House and Senate put forward their own proposals for funding Michigan schools, with the House recommending a $19.6 billion plan and the Senate at $20.76 billion. Wherever they end up, public schools are in line for another…

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic rippled out into nearly every aspect of our lives, and public education was no exception. Michigan’s students and educators have faced unprecedented challenges in the aftermath of extended periods of remote learning and emotional trauma inflicted by a worldwide pandemic. To help alleviate the impact and ensure our neighborhood schools receive the support they…

In the wake of deadly school shootings in Oxford and at Michigan State University, which sparked tremendous outrage and public activism, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday signed into law broadly popular and commonsense measures to address the epidemic of gun violence. Photo Credit: Julia Pickett, Governor's office The new laws require universal background checks for firearm purchases and mandate safe…

Educators had numerous workplace rights stripped away from them by the previous governor and Legislature more than a decade ago — and you can draw a direct line between those mean-spirited attacks on school employees and today’s shortage of teachers, education support professionals, school mental health professionals, and other critical positions. But times have changed. On top of Gov. Gretchen…

In an update to a study from 2018 that provided the most comprehensive look ever at the adequacy of school funding in Michigan, a report issued Wednesday concludes the state is under-funding public education by $4.5 billion. More than 90% of students go to schools without adequate resources, according to the report co-authored by MEA economist Tanner Delpier with the…

On March 31, state Rep. Carol Glanville (D-Walker) met with the board of MEA’s  Michigan Association of Higher Education (MAHE) to discuss issues affecting colleges across the state. As the Chair of the House Higher Education Committee, Glanville has spent 30 years in the field of education as both a teacher and administrator, working with students from pre-K to graduate…

West Ottawa EA President Theresann Pyrett with former educator and current State Rep. Regina Weiss, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and Education. A state House committee heard testimony from West Ottawa Education Association President Theresann Pyrett today in support of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Kids Back on Track program and the importance of funding academic interventions…