At Issue: Election 2006
Proposal 5: Vote YES on Educational Funding Guarantee
Nearly 12,000 citizens rallied at the state
Capitol in June 2005, voicing support to
provide adequate funds for Michigan's public education system.
We must provide adequate K-16 funding today to prepare students for the knowledge-based jobs of the future.
MEA members working in K-12 school
districts and at community colleges and
universities see first-hand the severe toll
that budget cuts are taking on their students
and workplaces.
Many school districts lack funds for basic necessities, such as textbooks and classroom supplies.
Parents routinely must pay for their children to participate in sports and extracurricular activities. Some budget-strapped districts are even asking parents to buy cleaning supplies for their children’s classrooms.
Our community colleges and universities, which saw the state slash their budgets by 15 percent from 2001-02 through 2003-04, also have endured hard times, resulting in higher tuition costs that make a college education unaffordable to many.
Funding for education has reached
the crisis stage, as we prepare students
for the knowledge-based jobs of the 21st
century.
MEA members can help our K-16 public
schools, community colleges and universities
survive and thrive by supporting
Proposal 5, the Educational Funding
Guarantee, on the Nov. 7 general election
ballot.
The Educational Funding Guarantee will provide annual inflation increases for public education, funding necessary if our students are to succeed in the new global economy.
“This is a reasonable proposal, and I encourage all MEA members to support it,” MEA President Iris Salters said. “We need to speak up in favor of the K-16 Educational Funding Guarantee and carry the message to our friends, families and neighbors on why it’s so critical to vote YES on Proposal 5.”
Passage of the Educational Funding Guarantee holds the key to Michigan’s economic future.
Page 1 headlines on how the American auto industry has been forced to shutter plants and cut jobs shine the light on the fact that the days of walking out of high school into good-paying jobs in Michigan’s auto plants are over.
We must invest in public education today to secure a brighter economic future for Michigan tomorrow and to prepare students for the knowledge-based, high paying jobs of the future.
That’s why it’s critical to invest in K-16 education by voting YES on Proposal 5, the Educational Funding Guarantee, on Nov. 7. Visit www.michiganK16.org for more information.