Things are still up in the air; call in!

So the cuts passed, but it looks like they might get vetoed by Gov. Granholm. 15 Democrats voted for the cuts, and they could perhaps be swayed if the budget goes back to the legislature. Here are their numbers; please call and tell them you’re against the cuts and angry/disappointed about the way they voted!

Ed Clemente (D- Lincoln Park)  517-373-0140
George Cushenberry Jr. (D – Detroit) 517-373-2276
Andy Dillon (D-Redford) 517-373-0857
John Espinoza (D-Croswell) 517-373-0835
Richard Hammel (D-Mt. Morris Township) 517-373-7557
Mike Lahti (D-Hancock) 517-373-0850
Richard LeBlanc (D-Westland) 517-373-2576
Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) 517-373-2629
Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing) 517-373-1786
Tim Melton (D-Pontiac) 517-373-0475
Roy Schmidt (D-Grand Rapids) 517-373-0822
Mike Simpson (D-Jackson) 517-373-1775
Jim Slezak (D-Davison) 517-373-3906
Dudley Spade (D-Tipton) 517-373-1706
John Switalski (D-Warren) 517-373-1772

Phone-In at Wayne State on Tuesday!

By September 30, the Michigan legislature must pass a new budget. The current proposal on the table calls for $1.2 billion in cuts to the budget including all levels of education, pre-school to university. This budget will drastically reduce funding for libraries, force teacher layoffs, and revoke the Promise tuition grant that guarantees many high school students funding for college. Against Michigan Education Cuts is a group formed in the last few days to oppose these cuts. We met today to get things started.

Some info:

Please email or phone your representatives in the legislature. The AFT has a website that allows you to email your representatives very quickly and easily:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/budget1/

We will be holding a phone-in, in which we ask students and faculty to call their representatives, outside the Undergraduate Library at Wayne State all day on Tuesday, September 29. Please come help us spread the word!

Please let us know (by FaceBook, email, or comment below) if you’d like to be added to our organizers’ list, and please let us know if we can schedule you to work (for 30 minutes or longer) at the Phone-In table on Tuesday. (Working at the Phone-In table means passing out flyers and information and talking to passers-by about the budget proposal with the goal of getting them to make a phone call to their representative on the spot.)

If you’re involved in organizing at one of the other campuses around the state, keep us posted on what you’re doing!

Let’s make the mitten a fist!

Wayne State community holds Phone-In against the state’s proposed cuts to education funding

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory

Sunday September 27, 2009

Dateline Detroit, Michigan

Event: Wayne State community holds Phone-In against the state’s proposed cuts to education funding

Location: outside of the Undergraduate Library on the Wayne State campus

Time: 9 am to 5 pm

Sponsors: Against Michigan Education Cuts

E-mail: marie.e.buck@gmail.com

URL: http://againstmichiganeducationcuts.wordpress.com/

Wayne State Community Holds Phone-In Against Michigan’s Proposed Cuts to Education Funding

A coalition of students, faculty, grad students, and other members of the Wayne State community will hold a Phone-In outside of Wayne State’s undergraduate library all day Tuesday. The coalition will pass out information to passers-by, with the goal of getting as many people as possible to call their representatives on the spot.

Against Michigan Education Cuts supports revenue-generation as the appropriate alternative to slashing funding for K-12 and higher education. The current proposed budget would revoke college students’ Promise grants, cut funding to libraries from ten million dollars to six million dollars, and reduce state aid to all K-12 school districts by $218 per student.

The coalition joins university communities across the country in fighting back against the increasing inaccessibility of education.

Phone-in! September 29th!

We will be outside the Undergraduate Library on the Wayne State campus all day Tuesday asking students, faculty, and staff to phone their representatives and tell them to vote against the budget cuts to education. Stop by, make a phone call, help us flyer!