Washtenaw County educators intensify rally call for state education funding changes
From left: Adolfo Valencia, Richard Rudy and Mike Layher hold protest signs outside the Ann Arbor Public Library Wednesday protesting plans for possible privatization of bus drivers and custodians in the district.
Melanie Maxwell | For AnnArbor.com
When Washtenaw County students head back to school in the fall, it’s likely at least four local elementary schools will have closed.
School boards in Ypsilanti, Saline, Chelsea and Lincoln are all mulling over or finalizing plans to shutter at least one school.
Fewer teachers will be there to greet students: Just about every district is making plans to reduce its teaching ranks - including as many as 34 eliminated teaching positions in the Ann Arbor district.
Other changes also could be on the horizon, including countywide transportation, pay-to-play sports and more schools of choice options.
But Washtenaw County educators and school board members say those are simply short-term fixes to the larger problem of Michigan’s education funding system. If changes aren’t made soon, they argue, balancing the budget next year may be an insurmountable task without drastic measures.
To make their point, local parents, school board members and school employees joined others from across the state for a rally at the state Capitol Wednesday.
Ypsilanti Trustee Kira Berman attended the rally with a contingent from the district and said the goal was to convey to state officials the urgency of the situation.
“We have already sustained cuts and layoffs in Ypsilanti and we face excruciating decisions on whether to close schools in the next few weeks,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep our public education system as strong as possible, but we need Lansing’s help, we need new revenues and we need new reforms.”
Schools are absorbing a minimum $165 per student funding cut this academic year. Next year's cuts could be deeper, particularly when including extra costs schools face to fund employee retirement plans. Combined cuts and required increased spending could cost schools the equivalent of more than $400 per student.
“In general the cuts in state funding are having a negative impact in my district, and in every other district, as we grapple with making very tough decisions that might not be in the best interest of children, but based off economics,” Ypsilanti Superintendent Dedrick Martin said. “It really puts us in a position where we’re fighting with each other at a local level - community against board, administration against teachers union, community against administration, and it’s just not healthy for developing a good, healthy educational climate.”
The state funding debate could be decided by voters if one Michigan lawmaker has his way.
Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, said Wednesday at an education town hall meeting that a proposal to increase school funding would be tied to cost-cutting measures and other changes for schools. Melton, chairman of the House Education Committee, would like the still developing proposal to be on the August statewide ballot.
"Go to the ballot and let the people of Michigan decide," Melton said at a forum sponsored by Ann Arbor-based think tank The Center for Michigan.
The specific changes that might be offered in a ballot proposal have not been determined. The proposal would have to be approved by two-thirds of both the Democrat-led House and Republican-led Senate to make the ballot.
Lawmakers first would look at ways to save money in the school system, including possible changes to health care and retirement systems for school employees, Melton said. Districts also could be urged to consolidate and make other changes aimed at saving taxpayer money.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed reducing the state sales tax from 6 percent to 5.5 percent and expanding it to dozens of consumer services that currently aren't taxed, raising roughly $550 million for schools next fiscal year and keeping the same per-student funding level.
Martin said one problem the districts face is that state funding continues to be a moving target.
“If anyone in Lansing was working 40 hours a week and it was a guess what their paycheck is going to be at the end of the week, that would be problematic,” Martin said. “What I fear is they are going to continue to kick this can down the road and we are going to have to continue to fight it out at a local level when many of these problems can be moved forward with assistance from the state level.”
At the local level, school boards are currently in the thick of their budget cycles and must approve balanced budgets by July 1. Two Washtenaw County school districts - Ypsilanti and Willow Run - are now operating under state-mandated deficit elimination plans.
Several local districts - including Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Saline and Ypsilanti - have taken significant steps in recent weeks to address their budget issues.
Coverage this week:
- Ann Arbor school board to decide schools of choice proposal in two weeks
- Sixth-graders to move to middle school under new building configuration for Saline Area Schools
- Chelsea schools to close Pierce Lake Elementary, cut teachers to reduce deficit
- Ypsilanti Public Schools amends budget with $4.9 million deficit
- Ypsilanti school board opposes resolution to explain rationale behind proposed budget cuts
Reported by: David Jesse and Tom Perkins of AnnArbor.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Comments
jns131
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 10:34 a.m.
I totally agree with union teacher spending as out of control. If charter schools have non union employees, then why do schools have union employees protecting teachers who are poor performers and not living up to state standards? I can name a few in Tappan who should be removed but can't because they are union protected. Sad. Time to rethink MEA and how teachers are protected instead of trying to cut the middle man who is just trying to etch out a living to feed their families. Teacher contracts said they would not ask for a pay raise. Guess what? You forgot that they are already getting a pay raise already built into their contract. So, yes, they are not getting a pay raise as of last September, but they are inside a hidden paragraph inside their contract. Time to offer buyouts to teachers ready to retire. Time to rethink who is getting the lions share.
Blerg
Sun, Mar 14, 2010 : 9:57 a.m.
@AMOC As I originally stated and mentioned several times in my responses, I've focused on AAPS and their numbers. I live in Ann Arbor, work in Ann Arbor, and support teachers and funding in Ann Arbor. I refuse to sit by and let posters, including you, expound information that is misleading and often incorrect. I said, "AAPS is still in charge of educating an ever increasing population of students." You claimed, "AAPS and Michigan K-12 school districts in general are seeing declines in enrollment...." I'm sure you could find a number of districts in Michigan that have suffered number losses over the years, but that was not a point that I even mentioned (thus making your post off topic AND incorrect in your response to me). Ann Arbor has not suffered number losses, and you were mistaken to claim that they had.
AMOC
Sat, Mar 13, 2010 : 11:24 a.m.
@ Blerg - From the link you provided: "After being battered for the last several years by free-falling enrollment, the Willow Run school district received a glimmer of hope that a turn-around may be in the cards during the spring count of its students. According to Acting Superintendent Laura Lisiscki... "we are proud to announce that Willow Run is up 27 students from the fall count. An increase of 27 students in a district which lost hundreds of students during the previous few years does not contradict my claim that the overall trend has been for flat or declining public school enrollment and population of school-age children. Many, many young families are having to leave Michigan to find jobs, usually taking their children with them. Our recent college gtraduates are especially hard-hit. The schools have been protected from most of the effects of Michigans' economic decline by the moderating effect of Proposal A. That "grace period" provided by increasing property taxes by "inflation or 5%" to catch up during downturns with the earlier growth in property values has expired. Somehow school costs need to be brought into line with the available money, because last year was as good a year for state sales and property tax collection as it's going to get for some time. After 2011, when the last of Obama's stimulus money has all spent, we either have made and implemented some hard cost-cutting decisions, we let our public services (including schools) fall off a cliff, or we go even further down the "raise taxes / protect union workers" path which has led us here. I prefer the first option. YMMV.
braggslaw
Fri, Mar 12, 2010 : 10:31 a.m.
The strategic direction of publice eduction should be service focused and not employment. Public schools were not created to employ people, they were created to educate my child. All the ancillary union nonsense just hurts my child's education.
Blerg
Fri, Mar 12, 2010 : 9:34 a.m.
@AMOC: Prove it because I can back up my claims with facts. While it may be handy for you to make up your information, I rely on *facts* like count day for my stats. Maybe you forgot this article, but I didn't: http://www.annarbor.com/news/willow-run-posts-enrollment-gain-several-other-districts-stay-flat/
AMOC
Fri, Mar 12, 2010 : 8:09 a.m.
@Blerg - You are mistaken. AAPS and Michigan K-12 school districts in general are seeing declines in enrollment, with further decline in almost every district projected for the next decade. It's just one more consequence of Michigan's economic stagnation. The schools have been almost completely shielded from our state's economic woes over the past 6-10 years by the lag in property tax reciepts vs. property value and the partial reliance on sales tax built in to Proposal A, which many education activists now want to abandon. Remember a year or two ago when there were all the stories about "My home is worth less, but my tax bill went up!"? That was Prop A, doing it's intended work of protecting school budgets during a recession. In most areas, that buffer is gone and property tax reciepts have begun to fall. Which means schools must make do with less money overall, and also with less money per pupil. One way to do this is with small (at least for now) across the board pay cuts for school employees. Superintendents and high-level staff in many districts have already voluntarily accepted cuts. Another is to privatize non-classroom, non-education functions, such as custodial work, groundskeeping, payroll, and transportation. Other avenues to explore would include changing the school schedules, encouraging middle and high school students to take some of their courses on-line, and re-organizing school populations to use fewer seperate buildings. We need to look at all these areas in order to provide a good education for students at a cost the taxpayers and parents can afford.
InsideTheHall
Fri, Mar 12, 2010 : 7:18 a.m.
For the record Pi Hi is one of the worst maintained schools I have seen. It is a disgrace to portray that kind of image. It is time to play hard ball with the MEA. Demand a 25% reduction in salary/benefits immediately. If they refuse fire all of them when the contract expires. There are plenty of good young grads coming out of EMU/CMU to fill the ranks.
braggslaw
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 8:59 p.m.
Schools in Michigan need to be dramatically changed. Parents and students should be more important than teacher's unions. Give the consumers of the services the right to choose and eliminate the public school monopoly.
L'chaim
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 12:07 p.m.
@scotter dog: business as usual? Well, I guess so when you consider that they've spent the last decade cutting budgets, slowing the growth of and cutting wages and benefits, eliminating services and (more and more) closing schools. Unlike the financial sector and auto for whom "business as usual" has meant trillions of dollar bailouts (going all the way back to Chrysler in the 80's). How does your show taste?
just a homeowner
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 11:33 a.m.
CountyKate: AAPS is not required to comply with NCLB. But then it won't get any federal money. Private schools, that shun federal funds, are not part of NCLB. If school districts want the money, then they have to play by the fed rules. As do those entities that want highway dollars, food stamps, etc.
jondhall
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 11:13 a.m.
OMG! The liberals are awake, welcome to the business world! Damn I thought the Sheep did the grass at AAPS, I guess the "sheep" are the ones following the leadership of which their is none! Here is a novel idea give the teachers and administrators a raise and that will cure everything! Build some more new schools that teaches the children allot! Do gooder's with bad ideas is what I see. In case you do not know what sheep say they say Baaaaaaaa! Cuts not Taxes is the answer, sorry cut pay, cut benefits, cut pensions, and cut the grass!
Dante Marcos
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 11:08 a.m.
serfergerl asks a very crucial question, which I paraphrase as "why do children always come last when it comes to government funding"? At the risk of sounding outrageous in this den of rightwingers, liberals, and reactionaries, I wish to suggest the following, in answer to serfergerl's question: what "government," or better to say, the dominant social class in the U.S., knows is that *its* children will always (with occasional exceptions) attend private schools. Which means that children in public schools are, by and large... precisely the same future voters the establishment has a vested interest in keeping "dumb," by which I mean, educated in the least funded way. African American children are suffering in underfunded, low-income schools? That's fine to the establishment. If people of color, the poor, and the working classes are left to struggle, then it becomes easier and easier to *both* ignore them, electorally, and to exploit them. As for the middle class of our society, whose children tend to fill American public schools: occasionally parents get so outraged by public school conditions that they become active. For the most part, however, middle class Americans tend towards passivity, and consumerism, and as long as their children are not being stunned with tasers at recess, the public school experience will remain business as usual, though on a very slow (or fast, depending on your politics) decline.
breadman
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 10:45 a.m.
Countykate you are right! Not all students are master brain powered. I know for a fact, because my Child went in special ed. all 13 yrs. at Ann Arbor. She only mastered two grade levels in that amount of time and let Her walk. Wow second grade level! She cann't even fill and/or understand a job App. So where does these Students go?
CountyKate
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 10:27 a.m.
While we're yelling about teachers unions and such, let's also realize that the federal government interference called No Child Left Behind REQUIRES schools to spend money to reach impossible goals. Who in their right minds thinks any school will ever have 100 percent of its children reach 100 percent achievement 100 percent of the time? And this mandate comes with no funding to help states even attempt to meet these requirements. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in 2014 when all the schools across the country fail to meet the deadline. Is the federal government going to use that failure as a reason to take over all the school districts in the country? Is the free public education system going to be disbanded? This is such a mess.
owlnight
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 10:22 a.m.
The maintanence has a department to do the large grass, the custodians do the small grass ect. by the buildings fences ect. Who do tou think has been doing it for years.
Blerg
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 10:09 a.m.
I'm sick of hearing people compare schools, like AAPS, to their experiences at private businesses. Successful, growing schools are not the same as flailing private businesses, and employee pay can't be fairly compared either. Lets get a few things straight. AAPS continues to see an increase in students, yet people want to see teacher pay cut because they had pay cuts at their private business. Did that business cut pay while seeing an increased demand for their product? Doubtful. As far as I can tell AAPS is still in charge of educating an ever increasing population of students. Parents still expect schools to offer a variety of classes, headed by highly educated professionals, to help students prepare for exceptional college experiences. Yet citizens in the community don't want to pay for it because paying teachers wounds their pride? This just doesn't add up.
jondhall
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 9:54 a.m.
Good point "the custodian maintenance workers work all year" they must cut grass in the summer. Will the Union let them do that? Sounds like a different classification? Maybe they can use push mowers, but not power mowers, that's a great idea, then we can hire more of those union workers. Let the teachers strike! Time to bust the "MEA", this thing has went to far the benefits are too great and the pensions too generous. Are they liberals awake as yet? It is 10:00 AM!
Smiley
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 9:51 a.m.
Spain dominated the 16th century, France the 17th and Great Britain much of the 18th and 19th before the United States took over in the 20th. China and India are likely to dominate the 21st because the U.S. federal government continues to insist that the free market needs it. It happens time and time again where government meddling in the free market causes lack of innovation and ultimately financial problems, which require cuts, which spark anger and protests (similar to what we are seeing from the teachers here), etc. We just cannot have it both ways -- we cannot mess with the free market and then be surprised and outraged by the financials problems that require cuts. "It's just not fair to teachers" "it's for our children" - to the extent these statements are true, everyone gets that. It's just the difference between what we want and what is realistic. And if you don't live in reality, you don't live very long because you run out of money, motivation and all other types of necessary capital. The 20th Century was great...we had a good run...but the cycle continues.
serfergerl
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 9:50 a.m.
Why do the children always come last when it comes to funding?
owlnight
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 9:48 a.m.
Don't forget the custodian maintanence workers work all year.
scooter dog
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 9:26 a.m.
Its about time they did some serious cutting.Everyone else is taking it on the chin and in the pocketbook,but with the schools its business as usual
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 8:57 a.m.
Michigan is in need of Right To Work laws across the board.. And please don't forget that most school districts basically close down from mid June to mid August, BUT Teachers then get some sort of education days plus days off during the regular School year. Unions also fight tooth and nail for some sort of ~300 "minutes" maximum of teaching per day. The contracts they get are crazy. The health insurance is so thick with benefits that sex change operations are a covered expense. Just ask your insurance company how much that costs.. And don't forget - Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer are footing the bill for all of this.
stunhsif
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 7:50 a.m.
" A call to changing the way public schools are funded" That is simply a call to raise taxes one way or another. Trying to get rid of the Headlee Amendment will raise property taxes for all of us that have had our homes for a long time. I cannot afford to pay more in taxes. This isanity must stop. Tax revenues in Michigan are down somewhere north of 30% over the past 4 years but no cuts are being made in state government. Fiscal insanity for certain. There are no more pockets to pick!
AlphaAlpha
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 7:10 a.m.
Statistics show our educators are compensated at a rate that is well above the national average. Reducing their compensation just a few per cent could stop all layoffs.
jondhall
Thu, Mar 11, 2010 : 7:05 a.m.
Tax the property owners that idea is just so novel, who could have thought of that? thank God there ws once a man by the name of Richard Headlee or none of use could keep our head above water. I suggest we in Michigan make November 9, "coffin day" as that was unfortunately the day Richard Headlee Died. Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend, unionize the workforce, all a bunch of BS. Stand on your own two feet, learning to walk with crutches is not walking! Ask the liberals they have the answer, "tax and spend". If you are offended by this then good, that was the intention, stand up and help, do not ask for help! We are talking about the youth in America, the future of America and your solution is "tax and spend" give them a pay raise, everyone is sacrificing, but the union employees, the municipals workers are not affected like everyone else! Tax and Spend, build a new city hall, build, build, build, every school district needed a new building, now they are closing schools. Privatize them all and hire a new class of teacher, a confident one that do not need a union to protect there shortcomings. Or maybe we can continue to play "J & J" (Johnson & Johnson), putting a band aid on the hemorrhage.