Waterford Today

Two state senators were on hand at the April 18 board meeting of the Birmingham Public Schools District to show support.

Michigan Senators Jeremy Moss, who serves Michigan’s 7th district, and Mallory McMorrow, who serves the 8th wanted to discuss how they were invested in the local community. Both districts hold parts of the school district and Senator Moss is also an alum of the Birmingham district.

They both wanted to attend a school board meeting to show their continued support and investment in the schools and community, as well as give some updates on what is going on in the state right now.

“We are both here. I'm proud to be a Birmingham Schools alum, 2004 Groves High School graduate,” said Moss. “This campus in this district means a lot to me and we are excited to provide a voice for this school district. I know the curriculum that comes out of this school. I know the opportunities for the students in this school district and the opportunities you have ahead of you from the education that you're going to receive. We also just want to let you know, we want to be engaged with the school district. We are watching what goes on in the school district and we are listening. We want to be an extra resource.”

Senator McMorrow is on the appropriations committee and deals with funding and allocations for public schools in the state. She apologized for not being able to attend a meeting earlier in the year, but reminded the board of legislation passed back in 2019 that declared a state goal of having their budget finalized by July 1 instead of the mandated October 1, which would allow schools to better plan their budgets.

While they have not yet hit that goal, because of the chaos that resulted from the pandemic, McMorrow assured them that the appropriations committee was doing their best to submit their budgets to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) by early summer to hit that mark.

“We are hoping to get our budget done and presented to the governor by the summer so that we can hit that July one deadline,” she said. “This is our call to make sure that you're all aware. Please send us your ideas and your feedback. We want to continue the record investments that we have seen on a bipartisan basis over the past few years, increasing funding for our public schools. We are also keenly aware that many of our students were struggling, especially in the wake of COVID-19 learning loss.”

McMorrow added that they were aware of mental health concerns in schools and were looking forward to partnering with the community in order to address them.