From: Whipple, Deb (GOV)
Sent: Thursday, December 03,
2009 3:54 PM
Subject: What the Governor is talking about today
What the Governor’s Talking about
Today
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Governor Meeting with Local Leaders
Tomorrow in Grand Rapids on Revenue Sharing
On Friday the governor will be in Grand Rapids to
meet with West Michigan local government and public safety officials to talk
about the impact that revenue sharing cuts have had on their communities, and
the need to restore funding. Next week the governor will attend similar
regional meetings in Flint and Southgate.
Key messages:
• Revenue sharing cuts have contributed
to the fact that we now have 2,000 fewer police officers and 2,400 fewer
professional fire fighters protecting our communities than we had in 2001.
We need to restore funding for revenue sharing to prevent further erosion in the
numbers of police officers and fire fighters in Michigan.
•
When revenue sharing cuts force local governments to lay off personnel or not
fill open positions, it harms our communities and is a drag on our state and
national recovery efforts.
• This is also an economic development
issue. We are working to diversify Michigan’s economy and create
jobs. To attract and retain businesses, communities must be able to
provide police and fire protection, good roads, water and sewer systems and
other essential services.
Legislature Makes Progress on Education
Reforms
This week the House and Senate began voting on
various bills that will help Michigan compete in the Race to the Top competition. Education reforms need to be
enacted before lawmakers adjourn later this month to position Michigan to be one
of the winning states in the Race to
the Top.
Key messages:
• Race to the Top reflects President Obama’s
and Secretary of Education Duncan’s desire to move education in this country to
new heights. Just as we have set a goal to double the number of college
graduates in Michigan, President Obama has set an ambitious goal for our
nation: to once again lead the world in the share of our population with
college degrees by 2020. The president has said that nothing else we do is
as important to American prosperity. That’s true for Michigan as well —
nothing else we do is as important for the prosperity and future of
Michigan.
• While each of these reforms meets a
specific Race to the Top goal, each in its own right will give us a stronger
education system in Michigan.
• No state needs to be a winner in the Race
to the Top more than Michigan — not just financially, but from the long-term
perspective of changing the state’s economy.
• Race to the Top is an opportunity to tell
the nation and the world just who we are: a state committed to the fundamental
change, the systemic change, the deep change that the future demands. We
must transform education in Michigan, and we must be fearless in our
determination to do so.
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