The House passed their version of the Education budget last night.  The bill cuts about $1.1 billion out of education.   In reviewing the final, bill the minimum amount of damage this bill will do is a $170 cut plus 3.5% reduction in per pupil foundation allowance (a permanent adjustment) which puts us at about a $428 per pupil cut.  This does not include cuts in categorical funds will be an additional cut.  The Senate Education budget includes $280 cut and additional cuts in categorical funds, so somewhere in the $300 per pupil cut range.

The House and Senate now must decide whether to go into conference, or to negotiate and decide which bill will move forward as the final piece of legislation. IF THEY DO NOT HEAR FROM PEOPLE THEY WILL ASSUME ALL IS OK AND WILL MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT ANY ADJUSTMENTS.  I believe they will choose to stay out of conference committee and negotiations will occur over the weekend - so the time is short and the window of opportunity to have any influence will close quickly.

Some things to consider:

• Revenue reports due to be out next week will likely show there is more money available than originally assumed  - making these cuts unnecessary.  

• $1.8 Billion of the budget deficit is created by the Republican legislators having cut business taxes by 86%.

• The K-12 fund was raided and diverted from K-12 schools to the state’s general fund budget to pay for the massive tax cuts for businesses.

• Had the K-12 not been raided, it would have restored last year’s $170 cut and provided up to $400 additional per pupil funding this year.

Our schools and our children’s education depend on proper funding.  Please make your voice heard.

Contact your representative 

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HOUSE BILLS 4465 TO 4466

In an attempt to unfairly attack the rights of teachers, the Michigan House of Representatives introduced H.B. 4465 and H.B. 4466 which severely increases the penalties for teachers engaging in strike activities. H.B. 4465 creates a law that mandates the loss of teachers’ certificates or fire any teacher involved in a strike action. H.B. 4466 would mandate a decertification vote on any labor union involved in a strike action. Not only does this impair the due process rights of teachers by giving no appeal process or grievance procedure but it also removes the people’s voice. 

The choice of whether or not to call for a union decertification vote, and the choice of which labor organization will represent workers, is done through the democratic process of a vote of the employees. This bill will replace the democratic process with a state mandate (sound familiar?). Once again, our Republican state legislators have introduced another bill that is an attack on workers and working families. This is the typical response by this legislature to any opposition to their “reform plan.” When workers voice opposition to their policies, they respond with big government controls. 

This bill is not about helping the budget get back on track, this is a bald-faced attempt to silence the voice of Michigan’s teachers.

Contact your representative - tell him/her to VOTE NO on HB4465-HB4466

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HOUSE BILL 4458

This legislation, introduced by Representative Mike Shirkey (R-65), prohibits public employers from using resources to assist a labor organization in collecting dues or service fees from the wages of public employees. This bill is not about the budget or any cost savings for state or local government. It is about denying unions the dues collection process; and it is a flat-out attack on unions. H.B. 4588 orders politically motivated and discriminatory actions against labor unions and their members. This issue did not arise from dues paying members – it was initiated by Republican representatives who, with their corporate CEO constituents, are working harder than ever to silence the voice of unions and hard-working families. 

Unions are the last line of defense in the fight for corporate takeover of governmental services. Weakening unions opens the door to privatizing public services resulting in eliminating workers’ rights, lowering wages and benefits and using taxpayer dollars to increase corporate profits.   We have seen similar concerted attacks in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Maine, and dozens of other states across the country. These attacks are not about the budget – our representatives have tried to pass off a CEO-driven political agenda as a budget issue. They’ve voted for massive tax cuts for the wealthy and for Wall Street at the expense of seniors, children, working families and people with disabilities.

 H.B. 4458 is not about costs or savings; Payroll deduction for union dues bears no administrative costs to the employer. It is not any different than a payroll deduction for employee health insurance contributions or charitable deductions such as the United Way. H.B. 4458 is designed to impose a burden on unions and working families.   

Contact your representative - tell him/her to VOTE NO on HB 4458

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Budget Reform Bills

It’s been called “Reaganomics”, “trickle-down economics” and “supply-side economics”. It doesn’t matter what you call it – it just doesn’t work! It has been applied rather unsuccessfully this past decade with the advent of the Bush tax cuts, pushing our economy into higher levels of debt, unemployment and poverty. It is often said that “history repeats itself,” but the lesson has not been learned for our Republican legislators. These bills will give $1.8 billion in corporate and business tax cuts at the expense of public education, students and teachers, impoverished families and retirees. It is often said that this bill is a Robin Hood in reverse: “Taking from the poor, and giving to the rich.” Let’s look at how that breaks down:

TAKES FROM THE POOR:

• Cuts to Public Education
• Cuts to Police, Fire and Other Community Services
• Tax on Retirees Pension
• Elimination of EITC for the Working Poor
• Elimination of the City Income Tax Credit
• Elimination of the Child Tax Credit
• Elimination of the Community Foundations Credit
• Elimination the Homeless Shelter/Food Bank Credit
• Elimination the Public Contributions Credit
• Elimination the College Tuition and Fees Credit

GIVES TO THE RICH:

• Elimination of Michigan Business Tax will result in 86% reduction in taxes paid by Business
• 2/3 of Business will Pay No Taxes At All

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In other news:

Local school board elections were held on May 3rd, and 18 out of 24 of our endorsed candidates won their election (or re-election.)  We would like to give a shout out to ALL endorsed candidates (bolded names are wins):

• Sonya Brown - Albion Public Schools
• Shawnette Spicer - Albion Public Schools
• Mike Smith - Bedford Public Schools
• Wayne Meehgan - Bedford Public Schools
• George Sobah - Chippewa Valley Public Schools
• Denise Aquino - Chippewa Valley Public Schools
• Benjamin Gillette - Fruitport Public Schools
• Steve Keglovitz - Fruitport Public Schools
• Monica Randles - Grand Rapids Public
  
• Raynard Ross - Grand Rapids Public
  
• Ed Luttrell - Holton Public Schools
• Jennifer Pollard - Kalamazoo Public Schools
• Mark Totten - Kalamazoo Public Schools
• Terrie Campbell - Lake Orion School District
• Zack Mason - Mar Lee School District
• George Seifert - Marshall Public School
• Michele Ready-Israel - Port Huron Area Schools
• William Orr - Port Huron Area Schools
• Gene Kilda - Utica Public Schools
• Ken Krolsyk - Utica Public Schools
• Megan Papasian-Broadwell - Warren Consolidated School District
• Fred Sebulske - Grand Rapids Community College
• Steve Claywell - Kellogg Community College
• Pam Faris - Mott College