School reform (so called) legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives. The bills HR 4787, HB 4788, and HB 4789 amend the school code, the school employee bargaining law, and the state aid act. Please contact your member of the Michigan House and Senate and urge them to make the changes listed below to these bills.
*Eliminate the provisions that would open one new charter school for each failing public school. Charter schools have been in Michigan for 15 years, and there is NO evidence that they bring significant improvement in a single struggling public school.
*Remove the provisions of the bills that allow the turnaround officer to ignore portions of local contracts and work rules that protect employee rights. Employees are not the problem nor are they the cause of the problems in failing schools, and we do not believe they should be scapegoats.
*Remove the anti-employee prohibited subjects of bargaining that were imposed on school employees, and only on school employees, 15 years ago in HB 4788.
Please remember - don't use school owned equipment or email systems to contact your legislators. Contact information for your legislators can be found here.
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