Our children’s education matters

This week in Lansing, Democrats called a last-minute meeting of the Committee on Education to hear testimony on SB 395 and 396. Despite the time crunch and the short notice, I read through the bills in their entirety and was shocked by what was there.

First, some background on my experience on the Education Committee so far. This term Democrats on the committee have set a relentless pace. They’ve axed the 3rd-grade reading level, axed A-F grading for school districts, and passed collective bargaining measures that give more and more power to the teacher’s union. All the while, under Governor Whitmer’s budget, spending on education has ballooned to over 20 billion. What do all these events have in common? More spending with less accountability and SBs 395 and 396 fit right in.

These bills overhaul the teacher evaluation system in the state of Michigan. This new plan waters down how much student growth factors into the evaluation of a teacher’s performance. This is the exact wrong direction for Michigan schools. The job of a teacher is to grow students. In every other profession, if you don’t do your job, you are asked to improve, and if you don’t improve, you’re fired. Obviously, Democrats don’t want such reasonable policies upheld in our schools. Instead, Democrats are prioritizing the comfort of underperforming teachers over the futures of your children.

All that said, we have to support our teachers. Many of them work tirelessly to provide the best for their students. However, we can’t sacrifice the quality of students’ education to coddle the ones who are not growing students. It has been frustrating and at times discouraging seeing bad policy after bad policy being heaped onto Michigan students. However, it’s important to keep in mind why we are fighting so hard. Your children’s education matters and I will continue to fight for it.

As always, if there is anything my office can ever do to be of service to you, or if you’d like to share an opinion, please don’t hesitate to reach out at PaulineWendzel@house.mi.gov or at 517-373-1799.