In more than a dozen stops around the state throughout March, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited classrooms to read with young people. At every point along the way, she also spoke with adults – educators, administrators, parents – to sell her proposal for reinvesting in the state. She had to make difficult choices in writing a […]
Only 25 percent of all Michigan educators – and just 20 percent of teachers – would recommend a career in education to a young person they know, according to results released Wednesday from a statewide educator survey conducted last month. Factors that most negatively affect Michigan educators’ professional satisfaction include lack of support from policymakers […]
MEA member Marti Alvarez makes a distinction between her job at Traverse City Area Public Schools and her reason for being. She is employed as a bus driver, but she is driven by a goal to help students be successful human beings – a message she spreads to colleagues doing every type of work in […]
Yvonne Williams wants MEA’s Education Support Professionals to banish a word from their vocabulary: “Justa.” “It would not be unusual to hear one of our colleagues say I am justa bus driver, I’m justa secretary or I’m justa custodian,” the recently retired MEA Northern Zone Director told attendees at the ESP Statewide Conference in Port […]
This year’s winner of “Best in Show” at the 55th Annual MEA/MAEA Art Acquisitions Purchase Exhibition is an artist and teacher who exemplifies the circle of life in education. Josh Gove, a first-year elementary art teacher in St. Johns, says he credits skilled and encouraging educators from his youth for his love of art and […]
March 20, 2019 By PAULA HERBART/President – Michigan Education Association With reading month every March, educators see a flood of policymakers wanting to spend time in classrooms reading to children and touting the importance of literacy. This year, however, there is a genuine effort to put money behind efforts to help all students read and learn, […]
In this last week before state lawmakers head into a two-week spring break, bills that would impact teacher evaluation and snow day waivers could be discussed in committees this week. Make your voice heard with your state representative and senator on HB 4221 which would return the percentage of an educator’s annual evaluation that is tied to […]
Michigan’s K-12 public schools would receive a $120-180 per-pupil boost in funding, plus additional aid to support the costlier needs of at-risk, special education, and career/technical students, under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s first state budget proposal released today. The governor’s spending blueprint follows the recommendations of several recent studies which examined Michigan’s school funding system and […]
HB 4206 to permanently waive days that schools are closed during a state of emergency declared by the governor got a hearing today in the House Education Committee. The bill could get voted on by the committee next week. Read more about the legislation. HB 4221 to return the percentage of an educator’s annual evaluation […]
