April 2010

GHEA
Thanks to all of you who came to speak with Arlan at Spring Lake Library. It was encouraging to see so many educators help fill the room to capacity, although the Mr. Williams in me still wished just one more person could be there. I reflected on the meeting on the way home and thought of several things. I thought there is no reason Alran should not understand the perspective of educators on some of these issues; however, I also think we need to stay on point. So, where can we connect? We need to emphasize … local control…this point resonated the most with the community members I spoke with. We need to talk about the economic impact this will have on the local community. Small business will continue to struggle with…loss in spending. Keep the argument simple - local control is very important. Let's not have Lansing dictate our budgets when they can't handle their own.

Brian Williams

GHAPS has requested MESSA to do a dependant audit to determine if all of the dependants on the insurance roles are accurate and up to date. They are asking for verification on our tax forms. They are not interested in any numbers on your tax forms. This needs to be completed by the April date that they have listed or GHAPS could drop all dependents coverage.

Amy Cahalan

MEA
…MEA is rolling out a plan for sustained, strategic, collective action among our members. Our goal is simple: to stop the constant efforts to balance the budget on the backs of public school employ¬ees by securing adequate, equitable and stable funding for public education.
You may have already taken part in a local activity supporting this statewide effort. A series of events are planned throughout the spring, ratcheting up the pressure in advance of an MEA rally at the state Capitol on June 24.

Your participation is crucial in all these activities—from wearing a red ribbon to coming to Lansing in June.

In order for us to make it clear to our Legislature… we need every one of our 155,000 members to stand up and say enough is enough. We need the strength of our collective voice to fight back against those who propose to fix Michigan’s budget problems by attacking your salaries, pensions, and health benefits and those who believe that layoffs, privatization and program cuts are the answer.
We urge you to lend your voice to MEA’s strategic collective action.

MEA Voice
NEA
Important Reminder: The NEA website (www.nea.org) has a very useful web tool available for everyone to use that makes communicating with your government really convenient. At the NEA website, click on “Issues and Action”. Then, in the middle of the page click on “Legislative Action Center”…this will take you to a page that allows you to quickly and conveniently compose a statement to send via email to most any politician. http://capwiz.com/nea/mailapp/