Markkanen Looking for Whitmer to Promote Unity, Education in First State of the State Address

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is preparing to make her first State of the State address Tuesday night from Lansing. Already she has shown that environmental issues are very important to her in her first few weeks as governor.

State Representative Greg Markkanen hopes she will touch on some other important issues as well. “I’d like to hear bipartisanship. We need to work together across party lines to keep Michigan moving forward. Transportation issues, education issues, we want to fix the roads. We want to have the best roads in the country,” Markkanen said,

Markkanen was a teacher in the Baraga Area Schools and is looking forward to hearing what Whitmer has planned for the state’s education needs. “It’s a passion of mine, to promote education across Michigan. We’re hearing over and over again that employers across the state and nationwide need more skilled workers,” said Markkanen.

Markkanen is calling for more investment in career technical education and for better preparation of students for professional trades. “I campaigned on the expanded CTE, giving students more opportunities, maybe look at possibly two pathways to high school graduation where students can start identifying a career path as early as 8th or 9th grade, do some job shadowing,” he said.

You can watch Whitmer deliver her speech starting at 7pm on ABC-10.