NEWS RELEASE: Educators Say Lame Duck Legislative Session Not the Time to Push Questionable Education Reforms

LANSING — As the Michigan Legislature prepares to start its lame duck session, education leaders are making it clear that now is not the time to rush through legislation that will have questionable long-term impacts on public schools. Instead, the Tri-County Alliance for Public Education (TCA) is calling for legislators to leave any action on education policies to the new legislature and Governor in order to properly debate and review them.

“There is too much at stake for schools throughout Michigan to rush legislation through with little or no time to properly review or debate its impact on our students, parents and teachers,” said TCA Vice-President & Superintendent of Woodhaven-Brownstown Schools Mark Greathead. “Lame duck is simply not the time to be making fundamental changes to Michigan’s public education system.”

TCA leadership took issue with a letter House Education Reform Committee Chair Tim Kelly sent to colleagues last week characterizing lame duck as the time to “reengage and take action” on several pieces of legislation that haven’t been properly debated or understood. TCA President & Superintendent of Farmington Schools Dr. George Heitsch said that, if passed, these policies could have serious unintended consequences for schools going forward.

“Educators have always stood ready to help guide positive and well thought-out public education policies, but to suggest that the last few weeks of the legislative session is the time to ‘reengage’ on these important issues ignores the complexity of these policies and the importance of getting them right,” said Heitsch. “TCA and its members will stand ready to work with our newly-elected legislators, our new Governor and a new State Superintendent on policies we can all agree will benefit public schools and our students.”

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The Tri-County Alliance for Public Education is a coalition of education leaders committed to fighting for strong K-12 schools across Michigan. Comprised of Superintendents from every district in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, they are collectively responsible for educating over 500,000 students.