By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

LANSING, Mich. – Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm refused to help public schools control runaway union labor costs while in office and left her predecessor with a colossal financial mess.

Gov. Rick Snyder has since straightened things out by forcing school employees to contribute a small percentage of their pay toward their own health insurance and curbing collective bargaining abuses by the state’s teachers unions.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Now, Granholm is heckling those working to protect those changes from Proposal 2, a union power grab on the November ballot that would enshrine collective bargaining in the state constitution and give union contracts precedence over state law.

Meanwhile, leaders representing the state’s public school boards and administrators contend Proposal 2 will cost schools more than $400 million in health insurance savings, and void reforms to teacher tenure and evaluations that put the focus on students, according to MLive.com.

Supporters of Snyder’s reforms have run television ads asserting that, if passed, the measure would allow unions to circumvent school safety laws, teacher discipline and other important issues simply by writing their own rules into the teachers’ contract.

Granholm called the ads “lies” and “beyond offensive” on her cable TV show, and accused the group behind them of “fear mongering.”

“Granholm, speaking with reporters on a conference call, said the proposal would not affect as many laws as the opponents claim, pointing to claims that bus driver safety certification and discipline for teachers accused of sexual misconduct would be subject to bargaining,” Mlive.com reports.

There are state laws that protect students from teachers accused of sexual assault, an attorney for the Prop 2 campaign told the news site.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Bill Schuette, said those laws could be voided if Proposal 2 passes.

“Gov.Granholm is wrong,” she said.

School leaders have the same interpretation, and they’re also concerned that Prop 2 will undo laws that require school employees to contribute 20 percent toward their own health insurance premiums, MLive.com reports.

“Proposal 2 would cost school districts $400 million in potential health care savings alone,” William Mayes, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators told the news site. “Should this initiative pass, eliminating these critical cost savings, districts will be forced to eliminate educational programs and cut valuable staff. That’s the last thing parents and our children need.”

Brad Biladeau, MASA’s associate executive for governmental relations, told MLive.com the proposal would turn back the clock to when schools were forced to negotiate teacher evaluations and tenure details with their local unions. Recent reforms adopted to protect students from union greed could be wiped away at the union bargaining table.

“These are common sense reforms intended to help students, not protect adults,” Biladeau said.

But as many people in Michigan will tell you, common sense has never been Jenny G’s strong suit.