Statement from MEA President Iris K. Salters on devastating state budget mistakes
EAST LANSING, Mich., Oct. 1, 2007 – “Our political leaders in Lansing have made a devastating mistake in balancing the state budget on the backs of school employees. SB 418 will harm Michigan’s public employees without helping the state budget at all, while the slashes to school employee retirement will make it even more difficult to recruit and retain the best and brightest employees for Michigan’s students.
“The health insurance pools that will be set up under SB 418 will be cherry-picked to death because of the politically motivated claims data reporting requirements. This bill – which never had any proof of cost savings attached to it – will end up costing many school districts more money. Pools that are already offering high-quality, low-cost health insurance will end up with higher rates when low-ball insurers swoop in to poach low-cost, healthy groups.
“MESSA has been providing high-quality health insurance for school employees for almost 50 years. No action by the Legislature will stop them from working to serve public school employees and their families.
“On top of the health insurance instability those families will feel because of SB 418, the Legislature has made public school employee retirement even more uncertain. Taking more out of employees’ pockets for fewer benefits will not provide us with a generation of educators committed to preparing our students for 21st century jobs. Higher salaries in other careers will pull the cream of the crop away from the education profession, hurting our students and our economy.
“The Michigan Education Association’s mission is to ensure that the education of our students and the working environments of our members are of the highest quality. Last night, Michigan’s political leaders made that work harder – but that will not deter us from continuing to strive for the highest quality public schools to ensure our students’ and our state’s economic success in the future.”
“The mission of the MEA is to ensure that the education of our students and the working environments of our members are of the highest quality.”