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Standing up for middle class families in Michigan

Dec 13th, 2012
by LilysBlackboard.
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Strong unions in Michigan have been a force in strengthening the middle class by bringing back more than 20,000 jobs while helping rescue the then-collapsing auto industry. In states with these so-called “right-to-work” laws, workers make an average of $1,500 less per year, 21 percent more people lack health insurance and workplace deaths are 51 percent higher than states without the law.

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Check out our very own Lily Eskelsen at a rally to protest Michigan’s attack on working families.

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Gaby Pacheco: Student, Dreamer and Rabble Rouser

Dec 10th, 2012
by Lily.
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Gaby was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She doesn’t remember much of her city, but her family was close. She remembers her grandmother saying, “If everything else is taken from you, you will always have family.”

When Gaby was eight years old, her parents came to the United States where they believed their children would be safer and be able to get a good education. They didn’t have the proper documents giving them permission to come. This isn’t a crime. But it is against the civil law, and there is always a risk that undocumented immigrants, even small children, can be deported – sent back to their home countries.

Undocumented immigrant children have few rights, but they do have the right to go to a public school. Gaby worked hard and got good grades. Her teachers recommended her for a gifted and talented program. In middle school she was in honors programs. In high school she was in Advanced Placement classes and in the Navy ROTC program. Gaby was always among the top students. She began to dream of becoming a Special Education teacher.
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Are We Really Going to Do Surgery With An Ax? Really?

Nov 15th, 2012
by Lily.
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We’re all in trouble when I start a sentence with, “… and reasonable people in Congress will find a way get this done…” and the room explodes with laughter.

Because we’re in this mess for lack of a sufficient number of reasonable people. When this soap opera began, there was a standoff between Democrats and Republicans in Congress over how to balance the budget, and with the clock ticking, if they didn’t get agreement it would mean (again) the shutdown of the Federal government.

Since neither side actually wanted to see that happen with an election coming up, they agreed to put it all off until now. They said things would be different because they agreed to come back … with axes.

The deal with the devil was that if they couldn’t agree on how to balance the budget, all the Bush tax cuts – some of which helped the middle class and some of which helped the rich – would expire (as the law requires unless they are extended) AND practically everything in the national budget would be chopped by 10%.

They would just start swinging axes blindfolded at everything from funding for hurricane emergencies to after-school programs for poor kids. Chop!

(more…)

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What’s Ahead for Education in the Lame Duck?

Nov 13th, 2012
by LilysBlackboard.
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Join hosts Donna Schwartz Mills (MOMocrats) and Cynthia Liu (K-12 News Network) as they talk with experts on education and try to switch gears from presidential politics to the lame duck session of Congress. What’s the “fiscal showdown,” and what will it mean for federal education dollars beginning January, 2013? Who’ll feel the proposed cuts and what can we do to prevent them?

Our three experts are National Education Association VP Lily Eskelsen, the NEA’s Director of Governmental Relations Mary Kusler, and a third guest, instructional paraprofessional Mike Hoffman, who works with special ed children in Delaware schools.

Listen in and participate!

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