Michigan’s budget crisis has not been solved.  The Higher Education budget eliminates almost all financial aid, not just the Promise Grants.  The K-12 budget has not moved, but the ideas for restoring some of the cuts will leave us in even worse shape next year.  Please contact your Representative and Senator to tell them we cannot solve the budget crisis with cuts alone, we need to raise taxes as well.  If we don't solve this structural budget deficit now, we are looking at 10,000-15,000 education employee layoffs across the state this year and the same next year. We are paid with tax dollars; we must support legislators who are willing to cast the hard vote to raise taxes.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

We need to solve the budget crisis with more than just cuts, moving money around, and one-time fixes; it is time to raise taxes.

The turnaround of our state is dependent on high quality education at all levels. If we don't fix the structural problem in funding education with enough revenue we will have 10,000-15,000 layoffs across the state this year and the same next year because of how school districts fund unemployment.

The current budget denies low-income students access to higher education because financial aid has been gutted. Not just the Promise Grants, but programs like work-study which help the neediest of students.

We can't solve the structural budget crisis with cuts alone, we need to look for revenue-generating policies.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
October 06, 2009