Education leaders say teacher shortages, learning loss among top issues at Michigan schools
Officials call on lawmakers to release funding
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DETROIT – On Tuesday, the K-12 Alliance of Michigan representing hundreds of thousands of students, teachers and schools held a roundtable to give a glimpse of issues facing students, teachers and learning.
One issue being the $1.6 billion federal allocation signed by then-President Donald Trump that has not yet shown in the state as well as the debate over who should control what in Lansing.
“We need the governor and Legislature to come together and commit to putting politics aside, getting the stimulus money out the door and getting a budget put in place by June 1 that put the needs of our students first,” said Robert McCann with K-12 Alliance of Michigan.
Michigan K-12 Leaders Look for More Time to Spend Federal Money
February 16, 2021
Michigan K-12 school leaders met virtually on Tuesday to discuss how they hope to use the $1.6 billion given by the federal government for education across the state.
They stressed the most was giving out the money as soon as possible so schools can have time to plan future projects and adapt to the everchanging environment created by COVID-19. One of their biggest concerns is addressing learning loss in students.
Superintendent of St. Clair County Regional Education Service Agencies, Dr. Kevin Miller said they need to distribute the money now so that schools can get an idea of what kind of programs they’ll be able to implement. “The hiring and training of tutors or additional learning coaches, plan for summer learning or extended year learning,” he said. “All of those conversations are happening right now so we need the funding to follow that.”