Governor’s Spotlight on School Crisis Welcomed, But Talk Must Quickly Turn to Action

The K-12 Alliance of Michigan today released the following statement from its Executive Director, Robert McCann, in response to Governor Whitmer’s State of the State Address.

“We appreciate Governor Whitmer’s continued recognition of the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on schools, students and families across the state. While the Governor’s comments during her State of the State are welcome, our schools need talk to quickly turn into action. Educators are relying on leaders from both sides of the aisle to work with us on solutions that actually benefit our students and prioritizes their success at a time that couldn’t be more critical. Schools have an uphill battle to climb to help our students and begin addressing their academic recovery, and words of support from our state’s leadership only go so far when partisanship seems to stop the real progress we need to see from Lansing. We look forward to working with Governor Whitmer, the Legislature and the Michigan Department of Education to begin the immense undertaking of helping our students through the remainder of this pandemic and beginning the long-term process of providing them every support they need to get back on track toward success. They deserve no less from us.”

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The K-12 Alliance of Michigan is a coalition of education leaders committed to fighting for strong K-12 schools across Michigan. Comprised of Superintendents from every district in Genesee, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne counties, they are collectively responsible for educating over 580,000 students