AAEA Members,

An email from the MEA mothership (lobbyist Dave Stafford) follows. It contains the details of legislative action that is about to be taken against MESSA and state regs regarding our health care. Please go back to the AAPS email you received notifying you of this, click the handy link, and take action. It only takes a few minutes. Your health care is worth it. So is mine. THANKS!

Brit Satchwell (AAEA PacMan)

Stafford’s email:

We have received credible information that, immediately after the Thanksgiving Break, outgoing House Speaker Craig DeRoche intends to take up the package of bills that attack MESSA and the way in which we bargain our benefits. The bills are SB 895, SB 896, SB 897 and SB 898. This package was passed by the Senate on December 1, 2005 and sent to the House of Representatives. On December 7, 2005 the House Education Committee reported the bills out to the House and they were placed on the House Calendar for action by the full House. They have been sitting on the House Calendar awaiting action ever since that date, and they can be taken up whenever the Speaker so chooses.

We have been able to stop these attacks in the past by working with all of the Democrats and a number of friendly Republicans. The problem we face with this package of bills is that they are the result of efforts by the Michigan Federation of Teachers, acting with a coalition of school management groups and Senator Shirley Johnson (in fact, some in the Capitol refer to this package as the "MFT Bills"). The MFT involvement means that we must work harder to hold all of our friends since some of them are also friends of the Federation.

The Legislature is gone for its Thanksgiving recess and will be back on Tuesday, November 28th for a 2 or 3 week "lame duck" session. The information we've received is that the Speaker intends to take up the bills on the first day back, November 28th, which means that we will not have much time after the holidays. We need your help to defeat this effort. PLEASE:

1. Contact your representative and urge her/him to oppose the effort to pass this legislation in lame duck session. (Brit’s note: The AAPS email I sent you has the easy link for this!)
2. Organize as many of your members as possible to do the same.

Attached is a summary of the legislation and talking points on why we oppose the bills.You can use this information to guide your discussion with your representative(s). The major problems are:

1. It requires that insurers in the school market provide detailed claims data by school district which would undermine the tested, effective business model of MESSA.
2. It allows school districts to join together to form self-insurance pools with no oversight or requirement that they be funded and managed properly. Current law allows districts to join together and form self insurance pools but they must do so under the terms of the state insurance code and with oversight from the insurance commissioner.
3. It calls for the state to establish a stop loss fund for large claims, to be patterned after the Catastrophic Claims Fund that the state operates for large automobile insurance claims. The current Catastrophic Claims Fund has been a horribly expense endeavor that has ever increasing costs associated with it. It is a classic example of what happens when government tries to operate a business and we believe that the same thing would happen to school employee health costs if the state takes over the function that is currently being operated by the private sector.

Your help is extremely important. Please act in the next week. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

Dave Stafford, Lobbyist
Michigan Education Association
1216 Kendale Boulevard
East Lansing, Michigan 48826

dstafford@mea.org
517/332-6551, Ext. 5439

Letter to Trustees

November 6, 2006

Dear Board Trustees,

This letter is not about sour grapes; I am writing before the fate of Proposition 5 is known. Nor is it personal; I have never met Susan Baskett. I supported her campaign for trustee and I’m sure she is a fine person. This letter is especially not about one’s right to their own opinion. I value a free exchange of opposing views and am thankful for the ability of our society to accommodate them. Please don’t dismiss this letter out of hand for any of these three reasons.

This letter is about a trustee’s job description and the oath sworn to fulfill it. A trustee is one who agrees to promote the interests of a specific person our group before all others. Lawyers, members of the clergy, therapists, financial guardians, and teachers are all examples of trustees whose personal opinions or interests are not permitted to interfere with the interests of those whom they represent while acting in their official capacities. A trustee for the Ann Arbor schools swears an oath to promote the interests of our students before all others. Indeed, the cover of every AAPS board packet Ms. Baskett has ever opened lists “Putting the needs of students first in all decisions and actions” as a trustee’s first core value. This oath is an especially solemn one because a trustee’s only constituents are children who cannot effectively or legally advocate on behalf of their own education. The Ann Arbor Board of
Education has only one mission, education, and one specific set of beneficiaries whose trust they have sworn to honor, students.

One can take a holistic, global view on the nature of cause and effect and argue reasonably that everything affects everything. When an outdated coal-fired plant in China pollutes the air, everybody’s atmosphere is harmed. However, a board trustee must focus on students and education while occupying a board seat, and cannot be distracted by any other issues, regardless of how worthy. We would expect no less from our own lawyer, pastor, therapist, or teacher. Had Ms. Baskett voted no on Proposition 5 for educational reasons, she would have remained within the bounds of a trustee’s purview, although her judgment would have come into serious question in light of this district’s severe budget crisis and the effect future cuts will undoubtedly have on the very programs and instruction she has supported in the past (our efforts to close the achievement gap in particular). Yet she justified her vote by saying that she is afraid Proposition 5 might affect other social services, and in doing so she went beyond mere bad judgment, beyond a shocking disregard for this district’s current financial crisis, and beyond the role of a trustee. Her vote was a slap in the face and a betrayal of trust to every student, parent, and staff member of this district who is struggling to maintain educational excellence in the wake of five consecutive years of cuts, a slap whose impact will be felt even more harshly next year and beyond if Proposition 5 fails tomorrow.

I personally provided Ms. Baskett and every board member with a direct quote from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan’s authoritative, non-partisan, credible analysis of Proposition 5 prior to the board’s vote last meeting. That quote specifically refuted the very reason Ms. Baskett later used to justify her vote against Proposition 5. Am I to assume that she was privy to a more detailed or contrary analysis, to information (other than 10-second AM radio fear blurbs) that she did not make available to you or anybody else in the AAPS community? The information I provided was that Proposition 5’s inflationary clause would not necessitate any cuts to any state services. While I can only shudder while guessing where Ms. Baskett might have obtained the misinformation behind her decision, the question of other social services should have been moot in any event, and certainly in light of what another $11 million of cuts will mean to the district she swore to represent. Whose trustee are you, Ms. Baskett? Your vote cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be interpreted as in the interests of Ann Arbor’s students. Whom do you represent from your board seat?

Ms. Baskett, I would not dream of challenging your right to your opinions, regardless of whether I agree with all or none of them. I urge you and all citizens to promote all issues of social justice and the furtherance of a global civil society. Vote your conscience in the privacy of the voting booth. Write letters to legislators and editors on every issue. Run for state or national office. Become an activist for a variety of worthy causes. But do none of those things while wearing the authority of a school trustee sworn to put students first in all decisions and actions. Call me to volunteer, and I will join you when I am not on duty as a teacher sworn to no other interests but those of my students.

When you voted no on Proposition 5, against the monumentally obvious interests of our students from your trustee’s seat, you in effect said either “I quit or “I am incapable of honoring my oath as a trustee.” And that leaves Ann Arbor with six trustees when we need seven who are willing and able to protect the educational funding of our students as we navigate the tough budgetary waters ahead. Ms. Baskett, I sincerely urge you in no uncertain terms to formally complete the resignation you informally tendered at the last board meeting so that this community can promptly begin our search for that seventh trustee.

To our other trustees, I thank you for your support for Proposition 5 and your public recognition of what adequate and reliable funding means for our students and programs. I request that you review the board’s charter for what measures are appropriate and/or necessary when an action taken by a board member so egregiously harms the interests of our students. Ms. Baskett’s vote was not one that can be casually shrugged off as a matter of personal opinion, coming as it did from her trustee’s seat. It so flagrantly violated every mission of our district, was such a clear dereliction of her duty, that she must be encouraged to vacate her seat as quietly, quickly and graciously as possible. I hope that your efforts in this regard will suffice. I appreciate your attention to this letter and will welcome your comments.

Sincerely,

Brit Satchwell
669-9467
tenureme@comcast.net

cc: Supt. Todd Roberts

PROP 5 Info

Dear AAPS Parents and Educators,

This email was forwarded to you by an AAPS teacher, parent, administrator,
trustee, or personal acquaintance. A Word document is attached below which
contains information of vital importance to every member of the AAPS community.
It was written by the signer below, a teacher at Forsythe Middle School. If you
have any doubts as to this email's validity or whether it's safe to open the
document, please contact the sender.

The document is exceedingly pro-Proposition 5. It's purpose is to inform those
who are not aware of Prop 5, rebut the many misrepresentations that have been
made by the powerful monied forces lobbying against Prop 5, address points about
Prop 5 that many local media have refused to cover, and jump start the
apathetic. We are down to one week before the election, the stakes for our
children and students are huge, and the extent to which the stakeholders in the
AAPS community, especially our parents, have been misled or purposely uninformed
to the detriment of their own children is a travesty. This is people-powered
democracy in action. Please read it, then take action.

How? PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERY AAPS FAMILY YOU KNOW! Then support
Prop 5 by going to your neighborhood elementary school's parking lot at noon on
Sunday November 5th. Bring friends. Bring the kids - a great civics lesson!
There you will be joined by other AAPS parents, administrators, trustees, and
teachers who will pair into teams with 20 Prop 5 flyers and distribute them to
20 homes in the neighborhood. This requires ONLY ONE HOUR OF YOUR TIME IN YOUR
OWN NEIGHBORHOOD, a small yet wise investment because $11 MILLION FOR OUR
SCHOOLS HANGS IN THE BALANCE!

You need not be a Prop 5 expert; the flyer does all the talking and has a web
address for more information. You need only be an AAPS supporter and
stakeholder who recognizes that our school system is already beginning to strain
under the weight of five consecutive years of cuts. The election is right
around the corner, and this is your chance to hear the "other" side of Prop 5
that the radio and the Ann Arbor News will not cover. Please FORWARD THIS ALONG
then join your neighbors at noon on November 5th at your elementary school.

For those interested in other Prop 5 options as well (sending pre-printed post
cards to friends,making some phone calls, etc) there will be a meeting of the
AAPS Extraordinarily Energetic Parents at the Free Meeting Room at the main
downtown library, 3rd floor, Wednesday November 1 at 7:30 PM. Please
attend and bring an extraordinarily energetic friend. I pledge to respect your
time and keep this meeting as brief as possible.

VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 5! THANKS!

No AAPS materials, resources, or employee time were used in the creation or
transmission of this message.

Brit Satchwell
Ann Arbor parent and 6th grade math teacher, Forsythe Middle School
tenureme@comcast.net


Click here for the info document in PDF

Granholm updates

Colleagues,

Another Granholm item:

Gov. Granholm and Amos Williams (candidate for MI Attorney General) will be at the Gandy Dancer Restaurant Thursday Oct 5. This event is sponsored by "Women for Granholm and Stabenow" and is free of charge, 5-7 PM. Please support these MEA/AAEA recommended candidates! Let the Governor know she did a fine job in last Tuesday's TV debate. FYI, her next debate with is Oct 10. - PacMan

FW: COME WALK WITH ME!

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: washtenawdems@yahoo.com
Subject: COME WALK WITH ME!
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 14:49:02 +0000
> COME WALK WITH ME!
>
> The Governor was good last night, no? Now let�s capitalize on that!
>
> We are walking in Saline all week for the Gov and Bob Schockman:
>
> WEDNESDAY: @ 4:30 pm we will LEAVE the Ann Arbor office; arrangements can
> be made to meet walkers in Saline City
>
> FRIDAY: @ 4:00 pm we LEAVE the Ann Arbor office; arrangements can be made
> to meet walkers in Saline City
>
> EACH OF THESE DAYS WE WILL BE WALKING in Saline City 1.
>
> SUNDAY: @ 12:30 pm we will meet at the Ann Arbor office; again,
> arrangements can be made to meet in Saline City. WE will walk in Saline
> City 2.
>
> IF you are able to make any OR ALL of these please phone Rebecca Hilleary
> at 517-414-6840 (and tell her you heard about the walks from the email).
>
> Brandon Foster
> Michigan Coordinated Campaign, <brandon.c.foster@gmail.com>, 734.474.7315
>

Comments Enabled

The settings for the AAEA PAC BLOG were previously set to not allow
comments. We have corrected the settings to allow comments from this
post on out. If you would like to comment on the previous postings,
please put those comments on this entry.

Thank you.

-Trevor Staples

Proposition 5 and Health Care

To All AAEA Shipmates:

This is a PAC-TION ALERT! (submarine siren noise: waaaOOOOgah! waaaOOOOgah!) Once we pass Prop 5, we'll have a life ring to help keep Michigan education afloat. One next step is a national issue: health care. It's the common burr under everybody's saddle (corporations, schools, 46 million uninsured Americans). A bi-partisan amendment (Harkin, D-IA and Specter, R-PA) is before the US Senate; they will vote soon. The amendment asks for $2 billion more for health care. Please take a few minutes to endorse this amendment by clicking this link ASAP. If the link doesn't click, please just paste it into your browser:

http://capwiz.com/nea/utr/1/NWVRGIMEMK/LFDMGIMEOR/885551541

This is also being posted on our www.annarborea.org PAC blog. I'll keep posting here on AAPS and on our blog until people have the habit of using our website. Nagging: Did you see your building rep for your Prop 5 sign and pink "Camapign 2006" sheet? Have you bookmarked our AAEA site yet? Have you gone to the PAC blog, read the comments or contributed your own? Our secret password to login to the PAC blog is "aaea". Here is the link for our blog's login page:

http://www.iammea.org/annarborea/authenticate/authenticate.html

OK, let's take 'er down to 100 feet and load both torpedo tubes for some discussion about health care on the national level. Every AAEA member who values good health care thanks you. Please simply click the links.

Brit Satchwell
PacMan
669-9467
tenureme@comcast.net