Legislation

Legislation

Educators deserve to have their voice heard in policy decisions about public education. That’s why MEA works hard to keep members informed about what’s happening in Lansing and Washington, and help raise the voices of school employees on these critical issues.

Legislation News

Students visit their former teacher, State Representative Jaime Churches, outside the Michigan Capitol.
Students visit former teacher in her new role at Capitol

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…

Unions join together to lobby for return of collective bargaining rights: ‘This is the way we can make change for our students’

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…

COVID relief funds used to support students, educators

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…

Governor signs commonsense gun bills into law, while House passes extreme risk protection orders

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…

MEA working with lawmakers to restore educators’ workplace rights

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…

Higher Education Chair Meets with MAHE Board

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…

Local EA president urges Legislature to provide sustainable tutoring funding

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…

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