Paquette Working On Legislation To Create A Network Of Teachers

A plan to create a network of teachers around Michigan that could weigh in on state education policy is in the works thanks to state Representative Brad Paquette. He tells WSJM News he led a brainstorming session with a group of teachers and state lawmakers last week to get ideas for how such a network would operate. Paquette says there are several entities that draft education policy without regular influence from teachers.

“There are many silos in Lansing that are all trying to determine education policy,” Paquette said. “You’ve got the House of Representatives, you’ve got the Senate, you’ve got the governor’s people, you’ve got the education department, you’ve got the board. All of these individuals are trying to pull at policy in different ways.”

As a former teacher himself, Paquette knows how decisions from higher up end up affecting the classroom.

“I had a lot of people even on the local level making decisions about my classroom, and they’d never even been in my classroom before.”

Trusted Voices, a non-partisan advocacy group of educators, partnered Paquette for the brainstorming session last Wednesday. He says the ideas for the teacher network are still coming together, but it could lead to each school electing a teacher representative who would examine legislation with their local ISD. From there, recommendations would be made. Paquette says more meetings to draft legislation creating the network will be coming.