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More Perfect Union Profile picture
@MorePerfectUS
Jul 27 • 10 tweets • 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Michigan just passed its largest-ever education budget—and one expert told us that it was the first time in living memory the state has made a "concerted effort to take rural schools and challenges seriously."

How they did it could be a guide for the rest of the country. Thread.
For years, Michigan schools have been sorely underfunded — one 2019 study found that the state was “dead last” in education funding in the entire U.S. from 1995 to 2015.

https://t.co/zZczXfD1xxtinyurl.com/2trjdcmb
What’s happening in Michigan is particularly instructive for the rest of the country. A 2019 report (also authored by Arsen) found that Michigan was “dead last” in education funding in the U.S. from 1995 to 2015, following changes in 1994 that shifted responsibility for school funding to the state. The absurdly wealthy DeVos family has also wielded enormous influence over the Republican Party to enact its pro-privatization, anti-labor agenda, culminating in the decade-plus capture of the legislature by the Michigan GOP. Whitmer’s landslide re-election, anger over the Dobbs decision, and t...
Rural schools have been hit especially hard. A 2022 Michigan State report found that rural schools spend a much larger share of their budget on transportation, and face significant challenges to student mental health, teacher recruitment, and more. msutoday.msu.edu/news/2022/Mich…
Last year, after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was re-elected with Democratic majorities in the legislature, budget discussions began to take into account those challenges facing rural schools — and how they could be paired with the fight to help non-rural schools.
The result: more than $11 million in weighted funding for isolated schools, $15 million earmarked toward career development for rural teachers, and hundreds of millions for a transportation fund that will overwhelmingly benefit rural, geographically sparse districts.
The budget also includes nearly $1 billion for at-risk students and at least $150 million for mental health, which will benefit rural and nonrural students alike.

The unprecedented $24 billion school budget received broad bipartisan support.
When GOP states like Texas are forcing through vouchers that threaten to make rural education inaccessible to the benefit of wealthy suburbanites and unaccountable private schools, Michigan showed that rural and nonrural districts can win together.
https://t.co/8PzjDD9BGntinyurl.com/2trjdcmb
The new budget includes more than $11 million in special weighted funding for rural and isolated school districts, $15 million in startup funding for a pilot program to back career development for rural teachers, and — perhaps most importantly — a new $350 million transportation fund that will help alleviate the costs of getting students to school, $125 million of which is earmarked for the new shool year. Until now, transportation has been funded entirely by the districts, to the detriment of poorer and more geographically sparse communities; the aforementioned Michigan State University ...
The new Michigan budget also increases spending by $458 per student, expands access to preschool, makes Michigan the seventh state in the country to permanently provide free breakfast and lunch to kids, and more. manisteenews.com/news/article/m…
Whitmer also signed laws this week to attract more teachers and counselors to come to the state, increase bargaining power for teachers’ unions, and undo a 2016 law that determined pay for Detroit teachers differently than those in the rest of the state. freep.com/story/news/pol…
Check out the full story, plus a wide and growing range of other pieces at our Substack!

Link: tinyurl.com/2trjdcmb

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More from @MorePerfectUS

More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jul 14
Millions of people are being kicked off of Medicaid nationwide — many of them without even knowing until it’s too late.

And some Republican governors, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Ron DeSantis, are doing nothing to prevent sick kids from losing care. Thread:
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the relief package passed by Congress heavily incentivized states to expand Medicaid so long as they didn’t kick people off during the public health emergency.

As a result, more than 23 million people gained insurance, including in states that… https://t.co/MfYcUx9L71twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Image
But the state of emergency ended this year after President Biden signed a congressional resolution, beginning the process of “unwinding” Medicaid’s continuous coverage. The administration gave states up to a year to “return to normal eligibility.”

But some states didn’t wait… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 13 tweets
More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jul 11
We found the greediest non-profit hospital in the country: UPMC in Pittsburgh.

Executives there raked in $225 million in one year alone, while putting patients and even their own employees into medical debt.

Their scheme is all funded by your tax dollars—and they’re not alone.
Non-profit hospitals get tax breaks in exchange for providing affordable medical care to anyone who needs it.

But the @lowninstitute found that 77% of non-profit hospitals spend less on charity care than they receive in tax breaks.

UPMC ranked as the number one worst offender.
@lowninstitute The gap between what the hospitals get in tax breaks and what they give in charity care is called the “fair share deficit.”

UPMC has a $490 million fair share deficit.

That means they’re taking nearly half a billion more in tax breaks than they’re giving back to the community.
Read 8 tweets
More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jul 5
Republicans have set their sights on destroying Pennsylvania public schools.

They’re pushing a plan that gives public money to private schools — just months after a court ruled that the state underfunds poor districts so much it’s unconstitutional. 1/ spotlightpa.org/news/2023/06/p…
The GOP-controlled Senate passed a budget last week with $100 million for vouchers—money that could instead be used to fully fund public schools. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has said he backs vouchers & his staff reiterated his support last month. 2/ pennlive.com/politics/2023/…
Pennsylvania public schools have been underfunded for years, leading the Commonwealth Court to declare this year that the state is failing to ensure “all students have access to a comprehensive, effective, & contemporary system of public education.” 3/ inquirer.com/opinion/commen…
Read 8 tweets
More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jun 29
Delaware is getting national attention over a bill to let LLCs vote in a city's elections.

But we heard that there was more going on, so we took a look.

It turns out LLCs can already vote in at least 17 Delaware towns—and this bill may even allow churches to vote.

Thread.
Delaware has a home rule charter law which allows any town with more than 1,000 residents broad leeway for self-governance. Part of this law allows cities and towns to "change the qualifications of those entitled to vote at municipal elections." 2/
https://t.co/f4ktW4DBzbdelcode.delaware.gov/title22/c008/s…
In addition to at least a dozen municipalities which allow non-resident property owners to vote in their elections, it's been previously reported that three towns allow LLCs incorporated within their town borders to cast a ballot in local elections. 3/ delawareonline.com/story/news/pol…
Read 18 tweets
More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jun 28
1,400 @ueunion workers are on strike at the Wabtec locomotive factory in Erie, PA.

On the picket line, workers have had to stand down trucks trying to cross.

But what are the workers fighting for? Grievance strikes and green locomotives. Thread 🧵

In 2019, Wabtec purchased the facility from GE.

And they've increased the number of workers at the factory, but the minute the first contract came up they fought successfully to eliminate grievance strikes. /2
paydayreport.com/in-erie-1500-u…
That means the workers used to be able to strike over contract disputes.

Like if the union thought management wasn’t living up to their end of the bargain as outlined in the contract? Grounds for a strike. /3
Read 5 tweets
More Perfect Union Profile picture
Jun 26
Companies may soon have the ability to effectively block local laws in Florida.

The GOP legislature has sent Gov. Ron DeSantis a bill that would give businesses the ability to stop regulations from being enforced before they're even heard by a court.

Thread:
SB 170 would enable businesses to sue local governments for up to $50,000, on the basis of "arbitrary or unreasonable" regulations — and the local government would automatically have to suspend enforcement while those regulations move through the court.

legiscan.com/FL/text/S0170/…
If signed by DeSantis, the bill could kill regulations to help workers, tenants, and the environment (such as restrictions on cruise ship sizes entering ports and single-use plastic bans). floridapolitics.com/archives/59397…
Read 6 tweets

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