House Democrats Slash $155 Million in Education Funding for Struggling Readers – That They Previously Enacted
You Read That Right: House Democrats Flip Flop, Vote to Protect Veto of Bipartisan Reading Scholarships They Approved Themselves
LANSING – Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP) Executive Director Beth DeShone provided the following statement today after House Democrats reversed course, voting to protect Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s veto, slashing $155 million in education funding for struggling K-5 readers:
“Refusal to defend struggling readers, to stop the governor from slashing $155 million in education funding, or to stand up for their own legislative records, is an act of political cowardice.
“Just days ago, Republicans and Democrats proudly stood together to give extra help to kids who’ve fallen behind at school during a global pandemic. Today, many of those same Democrats voted to take back that helping hand. This is the worst kind of politics, not because it’s brazenly hypocritical, but because it’s intentionally designed to hurt Michigan’s kids.”
Reading support for kids who’ve fallen behind, in House Bill 4411, was approved earlier this month with broad, nearly unanimous bipartisan support. Governor Whitmer last week vetoed the funding for struggling readers.
The Great Lakes Education Project is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization supporting quality choices in public education for all Michigan students. GLEP strongly supports efforts to improve academic achievement, increase accountability and empower parental choice in our schools.
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