The fight for fair and equal funding for Michigan’s online schools and students continues in Lansing, Michigan with a new crop of teachers, parents and students descending upon the state Capitol, meeting with lawmakers, and advocating for equitable funding in the face of proposed budget cuts from Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Amy Dunlap, PSO Michigan board chair, once again led the charge, shepherding a new group of online school advocates in and around the Capitol to meet with legislators.

“It’s absolutely critical that these lawmakers hear from and meet with these families,” said Dunlap. “They need to hear—from the source—just how critical our schools are to thousands of families around the state and just devastating this cut would be.”

While preserving full and equal funding is the primary goal of these meetings, for Dunlap and the rest of the advocates making the trek to Lansing, working to educate and change the narrative around online education is just as important.

“I think it’s safe to say a lot of our legislators have never really given much thought to online schools or students who utilize them,” said Dunlap. “For a lot of them, I think they hear ‘online school’ and think ‘oh they don’t have buildings, they don’t need buses, a 20 percent cut sounds reasonable.’ And they think that way because they don’t know about the technology costs, the one-on-one support, the emphasis on providing counseling services, or anything about the unique needs of the students who choose our schools. So the onus to educate them is on us. And I think the best way to do that is to meet with real families and hear real success stories about online school.”