By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-907045.mp3
LANSING, MI –
A plan to set up a hotline for teachers to report a lack of adequate school supplies and books might be dead.
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The hotline was part of the "Race To The Top" deal approved by the Legislature last year. It would ultimately require the state to provide adequate books and supplies to teachers with valid claims. The state would then withhold the cost of the supplies from payments to the school district.
Democratic state Representative Terry Brown.
"We need to look and make sure that teachers have the supplies they need," he says. "I mean, who wouldn't want teachers to have the basic supplies they need to teach students?"
The hotline was never popular with Republicans in the Senate, and now it's been removed from their version of the K-12 budget for the coming year. Some say the hotline could be misused, and could shed unnecessary negative light on schools.
The House version of the K-12 budget keeps the teacher hotline, so whether the service will ever exist will be hashed out in budget negotiations in the coming weeks.