By Brenda Brissette-Mata

EAST LANSING –Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder has a 10-point plan for Michigan. Number 8 on the list is Reform Michigan’s Educational System.

In a speech today, at the Sandbox Party Convention at the Breslin Center, Snyder offered his unqualified support for early childhood.

“Early childhood is near and dear to my heart,” Snyder said to the crowd of more than 3,000.

Snyder said he believes Michigan needs to focus on a child’s progress from before kindergarten through college. “I prefer to call the whole system P-20,” he said. “Preschool through lifelong learning.”

Snyder said that in recent years, the money spent on education in Michigan does not offer a good return on investment. His website refers to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) most recent report card on American schools, which notes that Michigan is ranked 42nd nationwide, down from 22nd in 2002.

“We spend way too much time in Lansing talking about spending money,” Snyder said. “We need to get back to the point of our system, which is to educate our children.”

Snyder believes students should have a portfolio of work that travels with them throughout their education. He also would like to see a system of merit-based pay that rewards better performing teachers.

“We have a broken culture in our state. We’ve been beaten up for too many years, gotten too negative,” he said. “We need to work and win together, rebuild Michigan. That’s the direction we need to go. Let’s fundamentally reinvent our state and become a great state again.”

The Sandbox Party Convention was sponsored by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), 55 Great Start Collaboratives, more than 70 Great Start Parent Coalitions, Great Start Regional Child Care Resource Centers and Michigan’s early childhood advocate partners. The Sandbox Party is nonpartisan and nonpolitical and looking for commitments from politicians that they maintain early childhood funding.