Union Dues No Longer Tax Deductible

Posted on by Jeffrey L "Jeff" Salisbury

MEA Voice Online meaaction@mea.org via bounce.meaaction.org

Now is when Michigan Education Association members typically ask where to find documentation of their 2018 union dues to include as a deductible expense on tax returns. Unfortunately, that deduction is gone, thanks to the tax overhaul passed by the Republican Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump more than a year ago.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the ability of employees to deduct their annual dues amount beginning with the 2018 tax year—yet another example of how elections matter.

READ MORE HERE –

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901552-can-i-deduct-union-dues

Ann Arbor Teacher Wins National Award

Posted on by Jeffrey L "Jeff" Salisbury

 

MEA member Chad Downs almost left the field of education before he started.
During his pre-student teaching at Eastern Michigan University, Downs said he couldn’t find a school or program that fit with his beliefs about education and creativity. Then an EMU advisor intervened and introduced him to Ann Arbor Open School, and the rest is history.
“I fell in love with this place,” he said of the K-8 magnet school where he’s taught in a 3-4 multi-age classroom for 15 years (or 17 years if you count pre-student teaching, student teaching and long-term subbing).
Now Downs has been selected as one of 40 national winners of the 2018-19 Milken Educator Award, considered “the Oscars of teaching,” bestowed on early- to mid-career educators for their accomplishments and promise.
The 39-year-old father of two was awarded the prize at a surprise assembly
 in December attended by interim Michigan State Supt. Sheila Alles and representatives from the Milken Family Foundation.
“It was kind of unbelievable,” he said of the moment when he heard his name announced. “If it hadn’t been for one of the dads standing by the door who waved me up, I don’t know how long I would have just stood there in front of my chair.”
Asked about why he won, Downs spoke as much about Ann Arbor Open School (AAOS) – its progressive student-driven, child-centered philosophy and the social-emotional learning integrated into every day – as he did about himself.

Continue reading…

https://mea.org/aa-open-school-teacher-wins-national-award/

Meet the man who broke barriers alongside MLK at Michigan State

Posted on by Jeffrey L "Jeff" Salisbury

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Robert L. Green keeps datebooks going all the way back to the 1950s. They are all stored in a safe place, but there is one that sits in his desk inside his Las Vegas home. It is marked April 4, 1968.

The entry reads, “King dead. Martin shot in Memphis.”

Green received a call that afternoon from Jean Young, the wife of Andrew Young, the executive director of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and future Ambassador to the United Nations. Jean told him she was on her way to Martin and Coretta Scott King’s home after Coretta called her with the news that her husband was shot.

“She went to the house, I got a call, and she said, ‘Martin is dead.’ And my heart sank. I was very sad,” Green said.

Green was then an assistant professor at Michigan State, with — read more here – https://statenews.com/article/2019/01/robert-green-cp

Michigan poised for ‘educational grand bargain’ under new leadership

Posted on by Jeffrey L "Jeff" Salisbury

Detroit — Michigan could be poised for an “educational grand bargain” with its new state leadership, former U.S. Dept of Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said Wednesday.

King was in Detroit to talk with education leaders from across Michigan about equity in education and putting Michigan on the path toward overcoming those inequities at the Opportunity for All: 2019 State of Michigan Education Conference at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Read more here – https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/education/2019/01/16/michigan-poised-for-educational-grand-bargain-under-new-leadership/2525053002/