If the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic goes unchecked, the nation stands to lose 1.89 million education jobs over the next three years, according to a new analysis by the National Education Association.

Stated another way, we could lose one-fifth of the workforce that powers public schools and higher education institutions. Those cuts will not only impact the educators who receive those pink slips and their families. It will also profoundly impact the 50 million students who attend public schools and their families.  Read more about the analysis here.

Here in Michigan, NEA’s data shows more than 56,000 education jobs hang in the balance, waiting on the U.S. Senate to approve the HEROES Act, which would bring nearly $2.7 billion in critical education funding to our state alone.  Michigan’s Senators support passing funding to help schools through the pandemic, with U.S. Senator Gary Peters putting it best during our virtual rally last month: “Our public schools cannot be a casualty of COVID.”

Send an email today to urge passage of this critical funding – and be sure to contact your state lawmakers as well to urge them to lobby members of Congress as well.