April 8, 2021 Lake Linden-Hubbell school district teacher Heather French is a finalist for Michigan teacher of the year. Yet the gross pay of $48,809 French received in 2019-20 was below the district’s average teacher salary of $51,423. The U.P. teacher is a good example of how the unionization of Michigan’s public school districts hurts the state’s exceptional teachers. Many proponents of sending more tax dollars into public schools have pointed to compensation as a reason so many teachers leave the field. Like almost all Michigan public school districts, Lake Linden-Hubbell does not take a statutory merit pay requirement seriously, and it appears to violate state law over its merit-pay policies.