The state announced this week that teachers and support staff who worked through the pandemic are eligible for state grants.
The state’s budget set aside $53-million for teachers and $20-million for support staff to receive payments recognizing their work in the spring.
Ron Leix is with the Treasury. He said support staff will be eligible for up to $250, K-12 teachers will be eligible for up to $500.
“It recognizes the efforts that teachers took during the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic,” he said. “The legislature and the Governor thought it would be good to allocate a few dollars to help them out.”
Leix said the goal is to recognize educators for the additional work they put in during the 2019-2020 school year.
“Teachers and support staff put in extra hours and spent a few dollars to ensure that things would be up and running,” he said. “These grant programs provide a little relief on what may have occurred.”
Leix said teachers and support staff should reach out to the district they worked at during the 2019-2020 school year for more information.
Payments are expected to go out in February.
A spokesperson for the Michigan Education Association said they hope as many educators and paraeducators as possible take advantage of this offer.