Sheryl Kennedy
Prior offices:
Michigan House of Representatives District 48
Years in office: 2019 - 2021
Elections and appointments
Education
Personal
Contact
Sheryl Kennedy (Democratic Party) was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 48. She assumed office on January 1, 2019. She left office on January 1, 2021.
Kennedy (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 48. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Kennedy completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Kennedy's professional experience includes working as an educator. She earned her bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1988, master's degree from Marygrove College in 2003, and Ph.D. from Oakland University in 2012.[1]
Kennedy has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- MEA - Retired
- AFT - LEO Lecturers Organization
- Greater Flint AFL-CIO - LEO Delegate
- Former MEMPSA and MASSP member
Elections
2020
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Kennedy's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
2018
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2018
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
2020
Moderated by journalist and political commentator Greta Van Susteren, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A.
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Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sheryl Kennedy completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kennedy's responses.
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State Representative Sheryl Y. Kennedy is currently serving her first term representing Michigan's 48th House District, which includes the Genesee County communities of Clio, Davison, Montrose and Otisville, as well as the townships of Davison, Forest, Genesee, Montrose, Richfield, Thetford and Vienna.
Before joining the Legislature, Sheryl spent 30 years in public education, working to empower youth as a local teacher for her first 22 years. After receiving her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2011, Sheryl became a school administrator, most recently serving as principal in Walled Lake Consolidated School District from 2013 to 2018. She continues to work in education as a lecturer at the University of Michigan.
Sheryl is a 6th generation resident of the 48th District, her lifelong home. She and her husband, Mike, have been married for 27 years and have three adult children and two daughters-in-law - David (Megan), Joe (Stefanie), and Karissa. David is a First Lieutenant in the Michigan National Guard and will be deploying to Afghanistan in the summer of 2020. Joe will be attending Episcopal seminary in the fall, and Karissa will be seeking a cosmetology license in the fall. - I fight daily for a fully and equitably funded public education system.
- I fight to support workers' rights.
- I believe in working across the aisle to to whatever needs to be done to move Michigan forward.
Featured local question I support last-dollar support for two years of post-high school education or training. I also support aligning these post-high school systems with the K-12 system, especially in the senior year. The high school senior year is the best opportunity to connect the student with the next step in the plan of their futures, be it through participating in dual-enrollment on a community college campus, or participating in an internship on the job-site.
Featured local question We must make sure that through it all we are supporting education, local government and make investments in systems that will make our state run more efficiently, thus more economically.
Featured local question I support full transparency within government. I also support creating a council of governmental ethics to advise and create a system of due process where ethical considerations are concerned.
Featured local question If we arbitrarily cut funding, it will take a decade to recover in areas that we can not afford. The children who are in first grade next year can't wait for 10 years to take first grade over again in a smaller classroom. They only get to be in first grade once. I continue to hope for support from our federal government to build a bridge to 2022 when our revenue will recover and we can get back on the path we started last year. In the meantime we must make cuts in our budget with a scalpel to make sure there is absolutely no waste, and then we must look at creative temporary revenue solutions that can move us seamlessly through our current challenge to the 2022 budget when we are expected to be in full recovery.
Featured local question We must take a comprehensive look at our total tax structure in the state. We must align the actual cost of building and maintaining the state that we want to live in with the amount of revenue that we need to collect to build that state. We should invest in efficiencies within our governmental system (i.e. updating IT infrastructures), and then use those efficiencies to attract business and grow employment, which in turn, supports revenue. Over time, a short-term, intentional use of tax-revenue for investment will pay-off in dividends of revenue saved because of the efficiencies they create. Once we get a balance between revenue, investment and growth, we will have an appropriate level for all of the state's systems and infrastructure needs without being an over-burden on individuals, small business or corporations.
Featured local question If we fund schools at the level described in the 2017 School Funding Research Collaborative, AND if the federal government funded special education at the level that it was supposed to be funded per the IDEA, we would have the resources to teach students and build programs in the way we know they are supposed to be taught. This would include wrap-around services, weighted funding for special needs populations including rural transportation and the economically challenged, and a full Multi-Tiered System of Support for all children. Educational professionals know what to do. They simply need the resources to do it.
After spending 30 years as a public school teacher and administrator, and acquiring my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration, I believe that I am uniquely suited to work alongside all stakeholders to solve many of the issues created by legislators that have negatively affected our public school systems across the state. I believe that investment in a cradle to career education system is what is necessary to level the socio-economic playing field regardless if one lives in the city center, or the most remote areas of Michigan. This system includes comprehensive pre-K through a seamless connection to skilled trades and stack-able credentials available at our community colleges. This is why I was the sponsor of the MI Opportunity Grant, and primary cosponsor of the MI Reconnect Grant. This is why I am honored to serve on Governor Whitmer's Return to Learn Task Force.
I am equally passionate about the ability for workers to bargain for better wages, benefits and work environments as equal members of the bargaining table. The best thing we can do for our students to help them learn is to make sure they are living in homes with food security and health care. Too many hard working families are struggling to make ends meet through an imbalance of power between the worker and management.
I am a Christian and do my best to learn about the teachings of Christ and follow them to the best of my ability. I also study other faiths to seek out the universal teachings that are common to all beliefs, like "the Golden Rule." I also study great women in history to identify what elements of their leadership made them great. From Catherine the Great, to Queen Victoria, to Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, I find their challenges as women in leadership somewhat a universal experience of which most women in leadership can still relate.
My political philosophy is actually a business philosophy. I believe in lean management, and being a good steward of tax dollars. I believe that the person closest to the work is most likely to have the solutions to the problem. I believe in building trusting relationships. I believe in creating systems that make a fair and just society. I believe in Democracy. I believe in the Golden Rule.
I have built a skillset of leadership over the course of my career both as a leader in my professional organizations, and also as an administrator. Under my leadership, every organization I have been a part of has grown exponentially. I am a skilled communicator, and I am ethical. I seek first to understand, but I can make difficult and unpopular decisions when I need to for the common good. I am a servant leader and my service is steeped in my faith.
I hope that when I leave office that the public school system is more appropriately and equitably funded than when I arrived in office. I also hope that at a time of financial crisis as we are about to experience due to COVID, that my voice will lead to better decisions about the limited resources that we currently have.
I remember the moon landing when I was nearly four. My parents made me sit in front of the television and watch it. It interrupted "The Wonderful World of Disney." The event was so special in my home that I thought it was one of those things that happened every year, like birthdays and Christmas.
I was a waitress/cashier at a Flint Coney Island for two years in high school. I also taught up to 13 piano students while still in high school. I went to college and became a K-12 music teacher in public schools.
Patrick Lencioni - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. It creates the framework for all organizational culture work that I have ever done, and it works.
I would say that growing up I related best to Fern from Charlotte's Web, or Meg from A Wrinkle in Time. As an adult, I'm not much of a fiction reader, except with my children as they grew up. I've always preferred histories and documentaries to comedies or drama. I have enough real-life heroes to choose from. I apologize in advance for being so boring.
I am a goal-setter. I love challenges and creating a pathway to meet those challenges. My struggles are always those things we can not control - the illness and death of a loved one; meeting the needs of a marriage and three children while achieving and advancing professionally; making difficult financial decisions because it is in the best interest of the family; being a woman and a part of the sandwich generation that requires you to take care of ill and elderly parents while you still have school-aged children at home. My struggles are no different and much less than many women my age.
Due to the numbers of State Representatives as compared to the Senate, there are an equal number of disparate ideas, philosophies and personalities. Even within parties there are groups that ally due to common experiences based on geography or socio=economics. The Senate, with smaller numbers have a greater opportunity to align and work together for a common goal. Simply put, it is easier to get 38 individuals to work together than 110. However within a Senate District, there may be tremendous differences and needs between regions. The Representative body has a greater opportunity to speak to specific needs unique to their own district. This push-pull between the two chambers and the executive branch in the end, I believe creates more comprehensive policy that in the end serves the greater good.
I believe what is more important is that state legislators come from a range of experiences that they can speak to as policy is being crafted. I am an expert in education, but no in other areas, such as soil chemistry or the health system. I appreciate my colleagues who I can turn to for clarity of ideas and expertise.
Clearly the global pandemic has created a financial challenge for our state in the near-term. However the pandemic highlighted the systems in our state that have been neglected over time. We need to rebuild the systems of infrastructure across the state from internet access, to education, to post-high school opportunities, to roads. We need a fair tax system that provides enough revenue in a way that is less susceptible to economic down-turn and less burdensome to the middle class, while it still supportive of small business and investment.
The executive branch is meant to be separate from the legislature. I believe in checks and balances. I also believe that it is the role of the governor to be the lead administrator, and the legislature should work with the executive branch to achieve common goals for the state while meeting the needs and expectations of the constituents they serve.
Yes. Within the first few months as a freshman legislator, I created the Educators' Caucus. It is bi-partisan group of legislators who have served in the areas of education in some way. Some were teachers. Others PTSA members, or school board leaders. I believe that if we are going to move forward good policy for schools it must be de-politicized, and created for the benefit of ALL Michigan students. I co-chair the Caucus with Rep. Brad Paquette (R).
Because I believe that to meet the needs of public education, we must first fully and equitably fund public education, Appropriations was a perfect fit for me. I currently serve on Agriculture, Corrections and School-Aid subcommittees of Appropriations.
I hope to take on leadership within the Appropriations subcommittee structure. I am currently the minority vice-chair of Agriculture. If the Democrats take the majority next term, I would hope to the the Chair of School-Aid Appropriations.
I appreciate the women who came before me, especially Debbie Stabenow. It is because of their efforts that the Michigan House Democrats have gender parity for the first time in history.
My laser-focus is on getting our schools fully and equitably funded. Ask me after I accomplish that task.
My story is not an individual one, but rather a common one. It is the story of schools that are asked to outperform their achievements year over year, without a commitment to keep up with the cost of educating students. It is the story of having programs that are successful in putting students on the right path for reading and math and behaviors, cut because of lack of funding. It is the story of having nothing else to cut, so that kindergartens grow to have 30 students or more. It is the story of parents working two full-time jobs with no benefits or sick days so that they can not take time to meet with a teacher or a principal, or to follow-up on homework. It is the story of teachers who completely changed their skill-set and curriculum in the matter of a few weeks to meet the needs of their students and parents who find it impossible to cope with distance learning because they do not have internet access. It is the story of the teacher who can not afford her own computer, and can not gain access to the school desk-top to complete her distance learning modules. It is the story of working 30 years in a profession I loved and watching Michigan slip from being the best educational system in the nation to one of the worst. To be clear - not because of the failures of the schools, but rather because of the failures of the policies that schools are forced to follow, in spite of the expertise and professionalism that exists within the human resources in that school and this state.
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Committee assignments
2019-2020
Kennedy was assigned to the following committees:
Scorecards
- See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Michigan
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
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Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Michigan scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2020
In 2020, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 8 to December 31.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on labor issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 9 through December 31.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on labor issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
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See also
External links
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 26, 2020
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Matt Hall
Minority Leader:Ranjeev Puri
Representatives
Republican Party (58)
Democratic Party (52)