In their last meeting of the semester, the Democrats at Grand Rapids Community College hosted Michigan House Representative Carol Glanville (D-Walker) on Monday, April 8. Chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee, Glanville spoke about current initiatives in the House and upcoming elections.
Currently representing the 84th District, which includes Grandville, Walker and the Northwest side of Grand Rapids, Glanville broke into politics in 2022 after winning a special election against Republican Robert Raegan and flipping the 74th district blue for the first time in almost three decades. Prior to serving her community as a representative in the House, Glanville served in the classroom as an educator.
When asked about the initiative to make community college free, initially proposed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer during January’s State of the State address, Glanville stated, “There’s two pieces to the legislature, right? One is appropriations, which is the money, and the other one is policy.”
Because she does not sit on any appropriations committees, Glanville was unable to give the group an update on the fiscal status of the bill. However, she could speak to potential policy structures for the proposed free two years of community college.
“We already have scholarship programs in place, Michigan Achievement Scholarship, Michigan Tuition Grant,” Glanville said. “There’s a number of different state-run tuition programs or financial aid programs, so we might just roll free community college into one of those and expand the budget there… Or we might want to create a new program that might have some policy that goes with that.”
Another educational effort currently going through the House is the introduction of an autism caucus. This caucus contains a group of legislators aiming to help improve accommodations for people with autism.
In addition to working on education projects, Glanville also shared with the group that she is working on a maternal health care bill that is part of a larger Momnibus package, which aims to improve perinatal health through addressing issues of social inequality.
Glanville also sits on the mental health committee and spoke about efforts to get mental health services covered by insurance.
“Right now, it’s not automatic or required that mental health services are covered like physical health services,” Glanville said. “So we’re working towards parity on that, so there will be equal coverage.”
Glanville rounded off the conversation by talking about her own pending re-election, as well as the top of the presidential ticket.
“I understand that there is some dismay at the top of the ticket on the Democratic side,” Glanville said. “… So although there’s a lack of excitement around the president, whether that’s for whatever reason, I think we need to be talking more about the types of policies and where we want to see our country heading, rather than personalities of the two candidates.”
