I’m running to stand with every family and future family, to strengthen how our state supports public education.  If we want to provide a world-class education for our students, we must be willing to learn from success by looking at proven models from other states and around the world and applying what works here at home.  

• I advocate for decreasing class sizes and examining issues from the grassroots level. We have to listen to our teachers, principals, superintendents, policy makers, and our families in order to create policies that give our districts flexibility to address their unique situations. That way we make sure that our system is properly funded in an equitable way and our stakeholders are supported.

• There’s an estimated $22 billion needed for fixing the  crumbling infrastructure in our schools.  We’re starting to fix the damn roads, but we need to fix the damn schools. Michigan is one of three states not receiving federal grant money; we need to expand access to grants for infrastructure. 

• We experience an immense amount of brain drain, not only from our students post graduation but from highly qualified teachers leaving the profession. We must invest in Michiganders who decide to become teachers through professional development, education grants,  and then support them from their first year in the classroom until retirement.