The proposed Michigan Law, Michigan House Bill No. 4052, doesn’t limit it only to teachers, but to all public employees from using “publicly owned property, facilities, or services, including an electronic mail system, for political activities [or] political fundraising…”
The reason we focus on teachers in this article is because of the way the news of this bill came to us, through an op-ed opposed to the law, which stated:
If Republican state lawmakers have their way, a public school teacher could go to jail for a year for sending a political message over the school system’s e-mail.
Really? A third-grade teacher sends a “Recall Rick Snyder” e-mail to her colleagues, and we are going to toss her in the clink?
We’ve all heard stories of the high school teacher involved in a local campaign (or even running themselves) who recruits their kids for the campaign under the auspices of “extra credit” open to other candidates. Is this something that might be included under this law? Probably not, but that begs the question:
How ethical is it for teachers to use this practice of extra credit to gain campaign volunteers?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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