Letters to Editor from a WLEA member!

Letters to the FREEP editor from 2 MEA members! (Sat., 11/5/11)

Waiting isn't an option
I believe that the Michigan Education Association is spot-on with this recall effort. Since last spring, public education in Michigan and across the country has been under assault from tea party and Republican governors and lawmakers. I offer three examples below to illustrate my point:

• The introduction of SB729, the so-called right to teach, which affects only members of the MEA and no other labor group.

• Michelle Rhee's visit to Lansing last spring, touting school reform. Rhee's viewpoints are based on opinion, and no studies exist that prove that basing a teacher's evaluation on student test scores will help improve public education. Also, Rhee is under scrutiny for high erasure marks on standardized test scores in Washington, D.C., and she fired hundreds of teachers during her tenure in D.C.

• The Legislature's cut of close to $1 billion to public education earlier this year.
Public school employees are fed up with the abuse they have been subjected to and cannot afford to wait one more second to take action to preserve their noble, although often thankless, profession.

Dave Waltz
Commerce Township


In response to Brian Dickerson's Oct. 30 column (" Michigan has no time for recall nonsense"): When legislators legislate the opposite of how they campaigned, their constituents have every right to remove them from office.

Certain candidates recently campaigned with slogans such as, "Vote for me; I'm a nerd," or, "I run on a record of cutting taxes." But I know of no candidate who ran on an agenda of raising taxes on fixed-income seniors and financially vulnerable homeowners, plus massive cuts to education. And all this was to offset a new $1.7-billion deficit created by a massive business tax reduction under the pretext of job creation -- with no requirement to create a single job!

Once elected, several legislators adopted this horrendous agenda, contrary to their campaign statements or lack thereof. Fortunately, the recall process is available as
a voter protection mechanism and must never be diminished.

Chris Mikolajczak, Troy