Category: Newsletter


Another Budget, Another Fight for Fair Funding

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:17 Feb 2020

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has presented her budget for fiscal year 2021, and public school students who need help the most find themselves – once again – in the governor’s crosshairs. The governor’s proposal made big headlines for offering to reimburse


On Schools and Students, Whitmer and Trump Offer Different Visions

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:7 Feb 2020

There are busy weeks for education reform in Lansing, and then there are these last two weeks. In just the last 10 days, voters have watched: Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered her State of the State address calling on educators to


Education and the State of the State

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:29 Jan 2020

Today, Governor Whitmer will offer her second State of the State address. Last year she made vast promises but struggled to deliver – in particular for our students. We witnessed her veto funding to some of Michigan’s most vulnerable kids,


Parents Pray SCOTUS Ends Religious Discrimination in Education

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:20 Jan 2020

The Supreme Court of the United States this week will take up a case with the potential to rewrite the school choice landscape across the nation. The case, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, has parents taking aim at anti-Catholic


New Year, Same Critical Focus – Education is about the Kids

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:8 Jan 2020

A new year is here, and with it a new set of challenges and opportunities to improve Michigan’s education policy and outcomes for our kids. While the legislature and policymakers make their way back to the state Capitol, GLEP is


Union Exodus Signals a Sea Change as Teachers Take Control

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:16 Dec 2019

When public schools empower great public school teachers to put their students first, not the education bureaucracy or the local political boss, amazing things happen. According to striking new data from the Michigan Department of Education and reports filed by


The Coming Battle for Our Kids’ Future: Mastery vs Seat Time

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:3 Dec 2019

What’s more important for our kids – mastering skills and subject matter, or simply accumulating time spent sitting in a classroom?   The answer may be obvious, but the question is at the center of a long-raging debate among education


No More Excuses

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:20 Nov 2019

State law required the Michigan Department of Education to publish A-F letter grades for each of the state’s public school buildings by September 1, 2019. They said it couldn’t be done. They said the earliest anyone could generate these report


The Fight to Overturn Whitmer’s School Cuts Is Just Starting

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:6 Nov 2019

November is National Scholarship Month and on the heels of a devastating public school funding cut from the Governor, it couldn’t come at a better time for Michigan’s kids. While officials in Detroit unveil sweeping new scholarship opportunities, the fight


The School Choice Landscape May Soon Be Rocked to Foundation

Posted by:bdeshone Posted On:21 Oct 2019

The tectonic plates under Michigan’s school choice landscape may be shifting, with school choice reality as we know it ready to shift. The United States Supreme Court recently announced their intention to hear oral arguments in a case called Espinoza