Marcia is proud to accept the recent endorsement of her candidacy by Emily’s List.

The well known national organization, Emily’s List, describes itself as

“a community of progressive Americans dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to every level of office. Emily’s List members believe that the power of women as candidates, as contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters can bring about great change in our country.

Working together, we can make a difference — and change the face of American politics!

The Progressive Democratic Women’s Caucus of Muskegon County chose to endorse three candidates for the August Primary Election during its July meeting. The candidates chosen for endorsement were Mary Valentine for State Senate, Marcia Hovey-Wright for State Representative (92nd District) and Rillastine R. Wilkins for County Commissioner (District 9).

Nana’ Kratochvil, Caucus President stated, “The three candidates were chosen for endorsement because they are so closely aligned with our mission statement: The purpose of Progressive Democratic Women’s Caucus is to engage Progressive Democratic Women in the political process by educating, mentoring, networking, recruiting, endorsing, fundraising and advocating for issues. We share the values of equality of women, common wealth for the common good and progressive democratic social and political values.”

Michigan and Muskegon have a highly skilled workforce with a good work ethic. I believe our workers deserve a decent wage, a reasonable working schedule, a safe working environment, and employment with health care insurance. Unions should have the right to organize.

The rights and wages all workers have is because the efforts of organized labor. Recently labor has been forced to make concessions to preserve jobs and the financial health of the organization. A healthy balance of power between labor and management is essential to the health of the economy and workers.

I support the following:

• Collective bargaining and binding arbitration
• Pay equity – legislation that is finally effective in bringing equal pay for equal work for women in Michigan
• The ”Hire Michigan First” initiative
• Continuing the effective Film Incentive program
• Continuing the “No worker left behind” program to train laid off workers into jobs of the future
• Minimum wage that keeps up with rising costs.
• Prevailing wage guarantees for construction workers employed on state, municipal or school construction projects.
• Extension of unemployment benefits until jobs become available again.

K-12  Public Education and Pre-School Education

As Michigan’s economy undergoes a dramatic transformation, our public education system must adapt if our children are going to succeed in a 21st Century workplace. Our public education system is suffering from years of inadequate funding, especially in schools with declining enrollment. Proposal A, while intending to reduce the discrepancy between rich and poor districts and make funding more stable, has done the opposite. There is more discrepancy in per pupil funding between rich and poor districts and funding is less stable in this struggling economy. The Michigan legislature needs to find the courage to address this serious problem NOW. Our economic future depends on a strong public education system and a well educated and well trained workforce. Many of the new companies coming to Michigan require workers have an education beyond high school, and Michigan cannot compete if our workforce is not ready.

The key to more successful educational outcomes lies in cooperative endeavors between teachers, administrators, parents and the students using research based programs and initiatives. It is unfair to blame the only teachers for failed student achievement or failing schools.

Except in a few special situations, I am not in favor of Charter Schools. Charter schools, current and new, must meet the same financial accountability standards as public schools, since they are being funded with public money. Though a few have been successful and offer research based and unique opportunities, too many charter schools do not offer anything new or different, are failing and still draining needed funds from public schools. Any new charter schools should offer proven strategies for student success and need to be held to the same academic and professional standards as public schools.

Mandatory Kindergarten and access to quality preschool will lead to increased school success in later years. When 80 percent of children’s brains are formed by age 4 and 90 percent by Kindergarten, our educational system needs to have programs in place to take advantage of these facts. All kids deserve the chance to succeed in school and in life. High quality preschool will help them do that. According to the Perry Preschool study, for every dollar spent on quality preschool, $17 is saved down the line. Because Michigan students lag behind in math and reading according to the National Assessment of Academic Progress, we need to do whatever it takes to give kids every chance to succeed. I support changing the compulsory age of attendance from 6 years old to 5 years old, with a parental waiver and the efforts of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

Muskegon County schools need to address our high school drop out rate. A high school education is the very minimum required for most jobs today. We need to offer more effective alternative education and raise the age requirement to 18 years old.

Health insurance for teachers has been a key target for budget cutting. Over the years teachers have forgone salary increases to protect their insurance benefits. The state budget problems should not be born solely on the backs of teachers and state employees. There are other, more appropriate, places to increase revenue – eliminating tax loopholes and tax cuts for the rich need to be considered first. Efforts to contain health care costs need to preserve teacher bargaining rights to include health insurance

No Child Left Behind has been an unfunded mandate that has been unsuccessful in turning around failing schools. It punishes rather than assists struggling schools and provides no funds to help failing schools become successful. Schools are punished for small infractions that have little to do with academics. Yearly testing relying solely on the MEAP is costly and very time consuming. Testing should include a broader range of measures for accountability and be less frequent. Though this is a federal program, perhaps the new administration needs to be convinced by the state legislatures and professional educators to make needed changes to make this program fairer and more effective. Race to the Top is another unfunded mandate. There costs associated with the requirements that in some cases are more than the potential increased revenue. Numerous changes will have to be made to the program over time, following input from educators and school districts.

Higher Education

The future of Michigan’s economy and our transition to the jobs of the future is dependent on the availability of a trained and educated workforce. The Michigan Promise grants encouraged many students to go to college and get advanced degrees. The students were very discouraged when the grants were eliminated in the current budget process. Promises made must be kept. Michigan needs to put restoring the Michigan Promise as a top budget priority in the years ahead.

Many Muskegon County residents rely on the more affordable community colleges. Remedial math and reading programs are essential to the success of many community college students and increases retention. Financial subsidy for these programs would be a good investment when the state begins to turn around economically.

I am pleased to announce that my campaign has established and maintained frontrunner status in terms of contributions raised from individuals and overall by raising over $17,000 in 2009, well over that raised by my competitors.

The 2010 Annual Campaign Financial Reports to the Secretary of State office were due on Feb 1, 2010 and were available electronically to the public.

I am grateful to my supporters, volunteers and campaign committee for their hard work and generosity in these difficult economic times and am encouraged by this evidence of broad support for my candidacy and energized for the major fundraising and campaign work ahead. We have only just begun.

This seat is currently held by State Rep. Doug Bennett, who is term limited and endorsing me to replace him in the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Thank you all,

Marcia Hovey-Wright