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Hundreds of education advocates rally for more money in budget

Cheyna Roth
/
Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   Education advocates – from teachers to lunch staff – filled the state Capitol lawn Tuesday. 

The state school aid budget is still being worked out by lawmakers in the Legislature, but protesters at the Capitol want to make sure that the final product has enough money for K-12 schools.

Donna Jackson is the president of a Detroit union that represents paraprofessionals – or school staff. She says she wants the Legislature to adopt Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s spending plan. And the half billion dollars in additional money it calls for.

“I just want to see more of our work being supported through funding and training so that we can provide the quality service to the students,” she says.

Republicans working on the budget say they are trying to come up with a spending plan using the money they have to work with.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R