A Call to Action

The Governor has made his proposal.

Now it is our turn to act.

The Governor suggests that school funding can be cut by $470 a student.

I would suggest that it cannot.

In Grand Ledge, a $470 per pupil cut equates to a cut of over 2.3 million dollars.  

Just this past year, we cut over 2.6 million dollars from our budget.  We eliminated over 35 positions.  We reduced our costs for athletics and transportation.  We received concessions from our employee groups.

The Governor seems to believe that we can be more efficient?

Our administrative costs, according to Bulletin 1014 which ranks Michigan school districts by selected financial data, are among the lowest in the state.

In our district we have a hard cap on health insurance.  Increases in premiums are paid for by the employees.  In addition, staff members pay between 28% and 34% of their health insurance premium.  

The Grand Ledge Public Schools have done much of the hard work needed to manage these difficult financial times.  

While we appreciate the Governor’s attempt to tackle the complex and challenging problem of the state’s financial situation, his education cuts are an attack on K-12 schools.  Governor Snyder’s proposal will not only damage Michigan’s future but will also damage our community’s present.  His proposed $470 per pupil reduction in state aid is unacceptable.

How will we cut 2.5 million dollars?  Should we eliminate busing, which costs over 2.2 million dollars each year?  Should we eliminate athletics, on which we spend about $525,000 per year?  Should we forgo buying classroom supplies or textbooks?

I agree that balancing the state budget is necessary, but I do not feel the Governor’s attack on education is the right approach. However, the Governor and the legislature could use the state’s financial situation as the opportunity to reform funding for and spending on public education.  There are serious reforms being proposed that could save money and create a more equitable school funding system.  The Practitioners’ Summit to Reform Michigan Public School Funding champions such reform (http://mischoolfunding.blogspot.com ).  So does the Citizens’ Research Council of Michigan, which has published reports on both the revenue and governance of public education (www.crcmich.org ).

Those of us who care about public education need to act.  Please communicate with the Governor and our state legislators.  Ask them to reform the funding of public education.  Contact information for the state leaders representing all of us that live in the GLPS district can be found on our district website – www.glps.k12.mi.us under the Board of Education tab and the Capital Connections link.  Please join us in protecting our students and our community.