Final hours of lame duck - your voice needed now!
Dear Ruth,
The lame duck session of the legislature is drawing to a close, and two important measures that would hurt our local schools are still under intense discussion. We've reached the point where we need you to call your legislators personally.
The first measure, as you know, is funding for roads: while the state Senate opted to simply raise money directly with the gas tax, the House was afraid of raising any taxes and chose to take road funds from money that normally goes to schools as well as cities and towns. They have been negotiating over this for many days now, and as the deadline nears, the pressure to do something - anything - will grow.
Whatever solution they find must not remove funding from schools, period. Simply leave our kids out of it.
The second measure is the school district "deficit early warning" package, or, as we like to call it, the "Defund 'Em + Take 'Em Over" package. These bills do nothing to help local schools in financial trouble but do greatly expand the power of the stateTreasury Department to take over districts with budget problems. While the state bleeds funding from our schools, these bills would require districts to dedicate staff to write a whole slew of new reports to describe how they are in financial trouble. Bill sponsors weren't interested in the concerns of parents or school officials and pushed their punitive bills through the Senate. They may come up for a vote in the House today.
We really need you to call TODAY. Ask your lawmakers to:
- Fix the roads, but leave our kids and schools out of it. (HB 4539, 5477, 5493)
- Oppose the "Defund 'Em + Take 'Em Over" package (SB 951-954, 957)
Please CALL
Rep. Adam Zemke - (517) 373-1792
Sen. Rebekah Warren - (517) 373-2406
Thank you for your efforts to protect our local schools!
Steve Norton
Michigan Parents for Schools
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