MEA President urges University administration to respect faculty and settle contract BIG RAPIDS – The Ferris Faculty Association (FFA) voted overwhelmingly this evening to go on strike, citing a lack of progress at the bargaining table and unwillingness by the administration to bargain in good faith. The FFA represents approximately 450 full-time faculty at the…
DetailsBailey Rothe graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2017 with certification to teach English and social studies. Now she has a job—and a union family. Rothe accepted a position with Lansing Public Schools in March and joined MEA for the member benefits, job protections and sense of community it provides, she says. “Lansing is such…
DetailsAccording to court paperwork, the state will appeal a recent ruling that education employees were owed additional interest on the 3 percent of their salary illegally withheld from them from 2010-12. This is the latest delay in justice regarding the 3 percent case, which public education employees won last year at the Supreme Court unanimously…
DetailsAugust 14, 2018
By PAULA HERBART/President – Michigan Education Association
In 2000, Betsy DeVos suffered a spectacular loss at the polls in her attempt to get private school vouchers funded by state taxpayers. Nearly 70 percent of Michigan voters rejected that year’s DeVos-funded ballot measure, which ended her push for public funding of private and religious schools.
DetailsEducators have more time and additional opportunities to provide feedback to both the state and MEA on controversial proposed changes to Michigan’s K-12 social studies standards.
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has extended the deadline for submitting online comments and added new dates for in-person feedback. In addition, MEA wants your thoughts on the proposed standards to help guide a formal position statement the union will be submitting. Visit MEA’s Action Network page to view the standards and share your feedback with us.
Proposed changes pushed by conservative Sen. Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton) have sparked criticism and heightened public interest in the debate over what children should learn about history and human society from kindergarten through high school.
DetailsLANSING – Following last week’s Court of Claims ruling that school employees were owed additional interest on 3 percent of earnings illegally withheld from them by the state, leaders of the unions that made the request of the court called on the state to not appeal the case any further.
DetailsLast week, Judge Stephen Borrello of the Court of Claims ruled in favor of school employees seeking a higher interest rate for the 3% of their earnings illegally withheld by the state. That could mean an extra check for school employees who had more than $550 million held during the seven-year legal case – if the state chooses not to appeal Borrello’s ruling in the next few weeks.
DetailsEAST LANSING – The NEA Foundation recently announced that Laura Chang, a second grade teacher at Sunset Lake Elementary in Vicksburg is one of 46 public school educators nationwide to receive the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence. This is the second major award for Chang this year. In May, Chang was named the 2018-19 Michigan Teacher of the Year.
DetailsJuly 18, 2018
By PAULA HERBART/President – Michigan Education Association
As parents, we’re disappointed when our kids fail to learn something in school — and their grade reflects it.
DetailsMuch like Michigan’s roads, the state’s once-proud education system has been neglected over the past eight years as lawmakers pursued the Betsy DeVos agenda despite pleas from school professionals, says Gretchen Whitmer, MEA’s recommended candidate in the governor’s race. That will change if she’s elected, Whitmer pledged at a press conference outlining her education plan—“Get…
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