Jeff Donofrio on Improving Education Outcomes Without Divisive Politics
Jeff Donofrio, President and Chief Executive Officer of Business Leaders For Michigan, joined the conversation, commenting on the sentiment that Michigan’s house is on fire, as the economy, education outcomes, income growth, and population trends have been drifting in the wrong direction for years. He urged leaders across sectors to move beyond finger-pointing and commit to long-term, bipartisan solutions that can endure beyond a single election cycle. Donofrio emphasized that accelerating student achievement — starting with early literacy — must be job one, pointing to Mississippi and Maryland as evidence that meaningful gains are achievable, regardless of politics.
“We can’t point fingers at any one party, any one person, because this is a decline in the state of Michigan that reaches all across the state of Michigan that has transcended Democrats and Republicans in the governor’s chair [and] controlling our legislature in Lansing,” Donofrio said. “We have to think broader than that, and solutions have to outlast a term in office.”