MA Hering Speaks!

Nov 21, 2022

Mary Anne Hering, Working Class Party candidate for State Board of Education in Michigan, on what it will take to give working class kids a chance to learn. The following is a reprint from the WorkingClassFight.com site.

"There are really different Michigan public schools. Just as an example, compare the physical space, number of teachers and support staff, libraries, playing fields, field trips, etc., between, e.g., Troy, Birmingham or Grosse Pointe public schools with Hamtramck, Ecorse, and Detroit. This is not to say the teachers and other employees in Hamtramck, etc., are not extremely devoted to their work and their children, but they have more students, more work, with many fewer resources to work with. So I would say Michigan Public schools that have the facilities, staff, access to culture, sports, art, college prep should be our template. And for that there needs to be a tidal wave of funding for public schools and then some, in the communities that need more.

There should be no “fixed” amount of funding—like a School Aid Fund, or General Fund or Lottery, for public education. Full funding for public education should be one of the main ticket items in the Federal and State budgets. The money is there if the government would stop subsidizing corporations, banks, developers, and put that money toward public services, like public education.

We need to stop the theft of public education money going toward private religious and charter schools. If the public schools in the working class neighborhoods weren’t closed down; if they were funded generously, working class parents wouldn’t have to look elsewhere. I have seen the continued dismantling of public education by drives such as Let Michigan Kids Learn. It is really a plan to allow wealthy individuals and corporations to get massive tax deductions, under the pretense of helping needier Michigan kids. If ever passed, it would deplete state revenue for public education."