ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
When the Michigan State Legislature goes back into session soon, I urge lawmakers resolutely to tweak a couple of laws they passed in recent times.
In both cases, they actually meant well, however, the law of unintended consequences has kicked in on both.
One such instance is Proposal 2 of 2022, passed by more than 60 percent of the voters, which creates a nightmare for local clerks forced to keep the polls open for nine consecutive days before an election.
The other is House Bill 4752 to change Public Act 184, which would permit retiring teachers to coach sports and extra-curricular activities immediately after they step down.
I originally was an avid supporter Proposal 2 and voted for it last November. I have believed for a long time that the right to vote is the only real power the people have. Furthermore, I believe deep in my heart that the Republican Party has been doing all it can to limit voting and those who can vote.
I subscribe to the notion that the GOP is horribly out of step with the wishes of common everyday working stiffs and the results of state-wide ballot proposals over the last dozen years bears this out. It’s gotten so bad that Republicans in Ohio proposed that 60% of the electorate would be needed for passage of a citizen-initiated campaign. Thankfully, it lost.
But perhaps I, as well as many others, went too far in my zeal on behalf of voting, overcorrecting a very real problem. I now believe that it is sufficient to have mail-in voting, plentiful and easily accessible locations for voters to cast ballots and maybe insist the polls be open for the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the Tuesday election.
Proposal 2, in its overly enthusiastic approach to making voting easy, has managed to make local township, village and city clerks’ tasks too burdensome and costly.
Of course, the suddenly unpopular Allegan County Clerk Bob Genetski made things worse by refusing to allow clerks to cooperate on duties and costs over the nine days. Genetski, now accused by local clerks of abandoning them, was uninvited to the Clerks’ Association meeting Aug. 29.
From where I sit, the county clerk was so opposed to Proposal 2 that he’s willing to let local officials suffer in order to have the law discredited and even rescinded.
However, if there is some way to overturn or at least tweak this law, I’d like to see legislators and senators do it.
Houser Bill 4752, which would ease the restrictions for retiring teachers so they may continue to coach or direct extra-curricular activities at schools, needs to be passed toute de suite.
In the Wayland Union district, we’ve already seen varsity softball coach Cheri Ritz have to dance around the provisions and now varsity cross-country coach Ray Antel is being sidelined.
The way Antel and the Wayland Athletic Department are getting around the edict recalls what Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace did in 1966 when he was forbidden a second term by term limits. He put up his wife, Lurleen, on the ballot and she was elected, declaring that George would be making all the decisions.
So Mayor Jennifer Antel, wife and “partner in crime” of Ray Antel, is now the coach. She is no stranger to cross country and once a middle school track coach of the year in the state. But her husband can do some back seat coaching, necessitated by a wrong-headed law.
I am hopeful the State Legislature will handle these two problems with all deliberate speed, but I’m not holding my breath.
Teachers retire with a too good to be true deal. All the perks, dental health, glasses. Make more money in 180 days than the rest of us stiffs who have to work over 11 months. Now they want to double dip for part time.
The big wigs get paid a big retirement from the State to retire, then get another job at a different school. That happened here in Wayland. Let some new people in!
Have they not earned their pay? As a rule their pay, benefits and retirement have historically been negotiated. No one was forced to pay the wages and issue the benefits, rather is was a choice. Ever tried educating in the 21st Century, the job is indeed taxing. My opinon, my choice.
Sounds like someone is jealous
No not jealous just have morals. Only so much stew in the pot a few dont need it all??
Tell me Dennis, what occupation doesn’t want experienced workers?
If you were offered a job with a good, not great pension, but put up with parents who think their kids can do no wrong or kids who think they know more than you, would you take it? Just wondering.
I have been told that House Bill 4752 requiring newly retired teachers to take time before being hired by a school system was to stop schools from moving a newly retired teacher into long term substitute jobs with only a summer break between.
That move effectively kept others, often new grads with teaching degrees out of the classroom losing valuable experience that could lead to full time positions.
Schools want it both ways. Cry about potential teacher and coaching shortages but on the local level, keep the old timers on the payroll.
PS
At least in the the last two decade teaching isn’t some gig with 180 / 6 hr per day, summers and holidays off gig. The job requires out of pocket for continuing ed, medical and pension contributions, curriculum changes like a new book that takes 4-6 weeks to prepare for lesson plans to be approved by administration. Teachers making sure teaching includes teaching to the test because of its ties to state funding. Not to mention bulldozer parents, cell phones in the classroom (electronic cheating). It’s a job worth doing but like farming you need to like it, put in the hours and keep up with the paperwork.