09/21/2026
Let's talk about the Michigan Education Association, because the internet has a lot of opinions about a group most people haven't actually read up on.
You've heard it all. Indoctrinating kids. Woke. Radical. Crooked. So what does the MEA actually fight for? It's all public. Their 2025-27 legislative priorities include:
✅Adequate funding for public schools
✅Affordable health care for school employees and retirees
✅Smaller class sizes (24 to 1 in secondary, 21 to 1 in primary) and more counselors (250 to 1)
✅School safety funding and protection from workplace violence
✅Mental health resources for students and staff
✅Certified, trained educators in every classroom
✅A stable retirement plan and the right to bargain
Their biggest fight right now is the 2011 "hard cap" law limiting what employers can contribute to public employee health care. It never kept up with inflation, so educators pay hundreds more per paycheck or take worse coverage. A Warren teacher told the Macomb Daily she expects to spend about $10,000 this year on her family's deductibles and co-insurance alone. That law affects police and firefighters too.
Yes, the candidates they endorse are mostly Democrats. That's because Democrats are the ones sponsoring bills on funding, safety, and health care. Would you expect a police union to endorse a candidate trying to cut police benefits? Of course not. Same logic. And those recommendations come from screening committees of working educators.
You can disagree with some of their positions. That's a normal policy debate. But calling a group of teachers "radical" for asking for safe schools, real funding, fair pay, and affordable health care is nonsense.
Support your kids' teachers. Support the union trying to make their jobs doable so they can focus on teaching. Period.
