EAST LANSING —The following can be attributed to MEA President Paula Herbart regarding the education budget signed into law by Gov. Whitmer, along with her line-item vetoes

“Aside from the pet projects and vendor contracts Gov. Whitmer line-item vetoed, there are meaningful education programs and initiatives that were also cut. Those are tough choices to make, but it is important to remember that many of those initiatives were fully funded in the transformational education budget the governor proposed back in March.

“No individual education expenditure is more important than ensuring our schools have the basic resources they need to help every student succeed. Gov. Whitmer’s initial budget earned our support because it strove to make that real change – and we continue to support her efforts to negotiate real solutions for how the state meets its school funding obligations.”

“It is our hope that legislative leaders will use this opportunity to negotiate with the governor – not only to provide funding to many of these vetoed programs, but more broadly to fix our broken school funding system and provide every student the resources they need and deserve.”

Contact: Doug Pratt, MEA Director of Public Affairs, 517-337-5508