Challenging Times Ahead

The 2009-2010 school year has been a challenging financial time for school districts. The state reduced funding to schools by $165 per student. Here in Grand Ledge that was a reduction of over $850,000. If you add in our modest decrease in enrollment of 66 students, our district had a decrease in revenue this year of over 1.3 million dollars. We planned for part of this. We anticipated a decrease of $100 per student or a decrease in revenue of over $500,000. We also anticipated a decrease in enrollment of 84 students. In all we anticipated a decrease in revenue of 1.1 million dollars.

As we look ahead, we are a;ready planning for the 2010-2011 school year. Yesterday, December 22, a report was published the Senate Fiscal Agency that looked ahead to the 2010-2011 fiscal year. This agency, which provides insight for the State Senate as they plan for and prepare state budgets, states on page 41 of the report that there will be a 339.4 million dollar imbalance in the school aid fund for 2010-2011. Put another way that would require a reduction of $215 per pupil. In Grand Ledge that would be a reduction of over 1.1 million dollars. Together with another modest enrollment decline our district could face a potential loss of revenue of 1.5 million dollars for fiscal year 2010-2011.

As we continue to plan and prepare for the 2010-2011 school year, this report from the Senate Fiscal Agency just reinforces that unless there are some changes in how the state finances education there are challenging times ahead.