Feedback from your email BLASTS!!!

Feedback is being received from Legislators! Here is some good news!!!!!

SENATOR MIKE KOWALL -
This morning I called Sen. Kowall's office right at 8AM, and his office manager/legislative aide said he would have Sen. Kowall call me first thing! And he did! I had a very interesting conversation with Sen. Kowall and I was quite pleased with what I heard.

Sen. Kowall told me that his daughter is a teacher in Waterford and that he is 100% with “us” (educators). When he made this reference he was speaking specifically about the legislation in the House that proposes to move $900 million dollars from the School Aid Fund to the General Fund. I told him that I had been urging the teachers of Walled Lake to write him because we aren’t being greedy; the loss of funding to Walled Lake will significantly affect education here, even if we take steep cuts in pay. He said he knew that; he had spoken to superintendents AND his daughter called him regularly about this issue! He reiterated that he is not an advocate of the shifting of revenues.

On the legislation regarding 20% copays on insurance: Sen. Kowall said that he abstained on this bill (actually I believe he entered as “present”, which is abstaining). He explained that 2 minutes before the committee voted on the bill, a supplemental bill was added. That gave him NO time to read it and he wants to , “know what is in it before I vote. I educate myself.” He reiterated that he doesn’t just vote “party lines”; he educates himself and knows he has to come home to face people......and his daughter. His big concern now is Economic Development and getting people "back to work". He is traveling around the state to work toward this end.

I invited him to come to Walled Lake to meet with a group of WLEA members. He said he would be glad to come and listen and explain the problems before Michigan. He wants to know if we have solutions other than what has been considered. He will be traveling to work on the Economic Development goals he has during this week, but said he would have his aide call me to set up a meeting. In the meantime, he says he has an open-door-policy, and we are welcomed to come to Lansing.


REPRESENTATIVE JIM ANANICH – Flint, and a member of the Appropriations Sub-committee, School Aid.

I have heard from many members who sent a “blast” to Representative Ananich and have received very encouraging emails back from him. In fact, after reading his replies, I think I REALLY like this guy.

I will share some of the information from one of his letters to a member:
“Thank you for your dedication to standing up for Michigan’s students. As a former teacher myself, I am fully committed to doing everything I can to oppose these devastating cuts to our schools. We must remain focused on helping educators give the best possible training to our children so that they can compete for good jobs of the future. In fact, I support a recent proposal to secure in Michigan’s Constitution, protections for K-12 funding, so that we keep the promise of Proposal A and prevent politicians from diverting education dollars to fill other budget gaps.”

This is an excellent proposal and is also supported by our local House representative, Lisa Brown!

Jim Ananich has a Facebook page!
www.facebook.com/jimananich

If you are on Facebook, “friend” him! Spread the word to your colleagues, friends and the community!

Rep. Ananich is participating in and hosting a series of Education Task force meetings around the state and in Genesee County, and is asking residents to, “provide their own testimony about how these misguided cuts would hurt our communities.” These are his next few meetings, if you or friends are in the area:

Tuesday, April 19 - Warren Woods High School, Warren - 4:30 pm
Wednesday, April 20 - Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall, Flushing – 6 pm
Monday, April 25 - Bendle High School, Burton - 7 pm
Tuesday, April 26 - Northern High School, Flint - 7 pm
Monday, May 2 - TBD, Ann Arbor - 7 pm