Occupation / Current Position
Special Education Teacher
Education
Doctor of Education (EdD) Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in 2021, Masters in Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University-Portland in 2016, and more.
Qualifications and Experience
I am a local union president, special education teacher, and community advocate. My unique blend of executive training and frontline labor experience perfectly fits District 18.
Michigan's educational system has been resilient constant inconsistency from Lansing. Ever changing mandates, uncertainty about funding, and an over-reliance on standardized testing have led to untenable decisions for many local schools. As an educator, i see the educator exodus still occurring and as a labor leader I see the cuts that still have to be made to student-facing services every year. We must stop attacking educators, and give them the real support they need, including closing the funding gap that still exists due to inflation. I would propose a fixed inflationary amount per year to the school aid fund and return to pensions.
I feel we must increase the minimum wage to a living wage of $20 per hour. This must be done in a way that offsets the costs for small businesses and family farmers through state-level supported funding. No one should be working two full-time jobs and still face eviction. As for overall affordability, we must hold energy and utility companies accountable through real oversight and the Rate Payers Bill of Rights.
We must work together to ensure our land, air, and water are preserved for future generations. We must further our partnership with the sovereign native tribes within Michigan to understand what can be done to clean up the mess we have made. We must also put real teeth behind industrial polluters. We must also work to halt Line 5 and other new oil pipelines and require full environmental reviews, protections, and guarantees with financial and legal teeth.
The Constitution is clear, it states that everyone within the U.S. must be afforded due process unless. The First and Fourth amendments are not locked to only American citizens. As a State Senator, I will always stand up and fight for all of our Constitutional rights, including for those who are noncitizens.
Occupation / Current Position
State Senator/ 18th District
Education
BA-The University of Michigan; MBA-Michigan State Univesity
Qualifications and Experience
Michigan Senate: 2023-Present; Michigan House of Representatives: 2017-2022; Michigan Dept of Treasury: 2013-2016; United States Marine Corps Reserve 2011-2013; United States Marine Corps: 2007-2010
Michigan public schools are ranked toward the bottom nationally, and this trend is unacceptable. We do not have a revenue problem, but we do have a spending problem. Roughly 25% of all school funding goes into the pension system to pay for legacy debt. Reforms I worked to put in place have greatly improved the state’s pension system and have made paying off this debt in the next 8 years a reality. To name a few other areas of focus, we need to reduce chronic absenteeism, restore the Read by Grade 3 law, tie teachers’ performance reviews to student proficiency, support school of choice, and get back to phonics-based literacy curriculum.
To rebuild Michigan’s economy, I support limited government and free enterprise which have a proven record of bringing economic prosperity and opportunity. Recent initiatives in corporate welfare in Michigan have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and have produced only a fraction of the jobs promised. While inflationary pressures primarily are a result of federal policies, there are actions we can take to address affordability at the state level. First, we can offer tax relief in both property and income taxes. This relief will help Michiganders keep more of their own money directly, and it will also help spur economic investment.
The “Green Energy” mandates that were put in by Michigan Democrats in 2023 need to be repealed. The costs associated with these mandates are simply passed along to ratepayers in higher utility bills. It is estimated costs to implement these mandates could be around $368 billion. We can be conscious of the environment while supporting affordable and clean energy without mandates. The transition to natural gas has already drastically improved our emission levels. Forced transition to “green energy” is expensive for ratepayers and forces economic investment into other states with lower energy costs.
I am supportive of legal immigration. Outside of that anyone who has entered our country illegally should be held to account as our laws are written. The mass chaos that we saw at our southern border during the years of open-door policies was not only costly for hard-working U.S. citizens, it also put our communities at risk. Every country has a right and duty to ensure those who enter its borders are doing so legally and will not pose a risk to its citizens.
