Ypsilanti school board passes deficit elimination plan, calls for education funding reform
Ypsilanti school board President David Bates and Superintendent Dedrick Martin listen to discussion during Monday's school board meeting.
Kyle Feldscher | AnnArbor.com
The Ypsilanti Board of Education passed a deficit elimination plan Monday night — one day before the state’s deadline — but trustees say a permanent fix is needed at the state level.
In the approved plan, chief financial officer David Houle wrote the district’s financial problems aren't due to excessive payments to staff, but instead are caused by inadequate funding for public education. That message was repeated by school board members throughout the meeting.
- To view the plan, click here.
The plan was passed unanimously, after many trustees voiced their displeasure at voting for a plan to cut an anticipated $26 million deficit over the next four years.
The plan includes eliminating five teaching positions, eliminating student monitor positions, contracting with private companies for custodial and food services, and district-wide concessions of about $9.8 million in salaries and benefits in 2013. Other measures in the plan include $420,000 in savings from custodial health care, eliminating student service coordinators and getting health care concessions from central office staff.
Board president David Bates said the plan will help the district avoid any punishment from the state during this school year, but he hopes to keep amending the document in coming years. He said it’s necessary for district officials to continue lobbying state legislators for more funding for public education.
“At some level, none of the cuts in this plan are fair in any way, shape, form or manner,” he said. “We need to redouble our efforts to convince legislators that we need help solving our problem.”
In earlier drafts of the plan, trustees considered cutting funding for transportation and athletics, repurposing the middle school and moving the seventh and eighth grades to Ypsilanti High School and instituting pay-to-participate for after-school activities.
The final draft of the plan is largely unchanged from the outcome of the Jan. 17 district operations committee meeting. The plan ends with a $1 fund balance by the fiscal year 2015, meaning the district is making the least amount of reductions possible to please the state, Houle said.
The elimination of student support coordinators was the subject of comments by parents Rex and Sally Richie, who spoke about their daughter allegedly being assaulted at school and the lack of follow up from district employees.
The couple spoke to the board about their concerns regarding what they said was a lack of discipline at Ypsilanti High School. Sally Richie said her daughter had been assaulted in November by a male student, but there has been no meeting between school officials, her daughter and the accused student since.
Student support coordinators are the school employees who usually handle discipline issues. Eliminating the positions will save the district about $1.3 million over the next four years, Houle said.
“There are cuts that have to be made, we all get it. But if you’re concerned with discipline issues, the last thing you should do is take away the people who are helping get those issues under control,” said Kelly Powers, president of the Ypsilanti Education Association.
The hardest-hitting measures of the plan likely won't come until 2013, when a number of salary and benefit concessions recently taken by the district's teachers end.
Larry Hankins, vice president of the Ypsilanti Support Staff Association, told trustees he thinks the district is attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the employees who make the least amount of money. He said support staff makes up roughly 40 percent of district employees and amounts to only 6 percent of the budget.
The plan includes a 12.5 percent cut in salaries for custodians.
Hankins said the union is ready to work with district officials, but wants everyone to sacrifice.
“You see where the money’s going, it’s not going to us,” he said. “Now we’re talking about going after the lowest paid people in the district. It’s not going to get us where we need to go.”
During his presentation at the meeting, Houle said long-term funding fixes would have to be a “legislative solution.”
“This is not working for many schools,” he said. “This system has not kept up with inflation and has not met the needs of students.”
In the document, Houle suggests a number of possible actions the state could take to find a solution.
Trustee Kira Berman
- “Current school funding legislation must be amended and modified to allow for local operating via a millage.”
- “A higher homestead millage for the 6 percent state education tax may be required to fund schools adequately.”
- “The Legislature should correct the unintended conflicts between the Headlee Amendment and Proposal A.”
- “The state should fund a state-wide pool for school employee health care to bring fairness and efficiency to the benefit.”
Trustee Kira Berman said some of the cuts to support staff — namely the 12.5 percent cut in compensation — were more than were being asked of other district employees. She said she hopes the district will find a solution to the cuts by the time 2013 arrives.
“I’m sorry I have to support this,” she said. “I do not like any of these cuts.”
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
Jennifer E
Fri, Jan 28, 2011 : 11:29 p.m.
I find all of this horrifying. I came to Michigan this year after twenty years in California, during which time I personally witnessed (as a school employee and a parent) Ca schools slide from the best in the nation to the absolute bottom. Some of the attempted "fixes" I see here are the exact same things which caused this tragic slide. Tax cuts eviscerated the budget, which was followed by the exact same nonsense- cut support staff, cut transportation, subcontracting work to substandard for-profit vendors, followed by cuts to after school programs, reductions in teaching staff, cuts in necessary programs, textbook cuts, reductions in educational hours, mismanaged charter schools, etc ad nauseum, until the inevitable result: Filthy, crime-ridden schools, with apathetic, overworked, outdated and dangerous equipment, under-qualified teachers turning out undereducated, unprepared, and often functionally illiterate students, leaving the state without a competent workforce.
Jennifer E
Fri, Jan 28, 2011 : 11:30 p.m.
That should have read apathetic, overworked teachers, etc.
sad day
Thu, Jan 27, 2011 : 3:22 p.m.
The unions have made concessions......It is Central Administration that wants to paint a different picture. They are top heavy per student ratio, and wants you to think that their concessions makes a difference. They are all over paid and either are rejects from other districts or have no experience or skills to be in the positions they are in. I say fire them all and get new people in. Perhaps the new people will have some common sense.....They are trying to solve the deficit on the backs of employees that make between 10,000 and 40,000 dollars a year. The support staff workers are the lowest paid in the district and no private company will come in and do these services for less then are already being paid. David Houle stands at the board meetings and says we can save this much, but neglects to tell you how much the outside companies will charge. In most cases outside companies will charge extra for vomit and urine clean ups, extra charges for game, conference, inservice set-ups. They will charge extra snow removal, grass cutting, weeding, and light maintenance. Did this district learn nothing when they had to pay an additional 180,000.00 for Trinity buses. Someone needs to wake up. Instead of taking the small amount of wages the support staff makes, they would find it makes mo sense to take it from the top. Under the current leadership, the Ypsilanti district will close their doors with in 5 years.
stunhsif
Wed, Jan 26, 2011 : 7:21 p.m.
Ypsi Public will be gone within 10 years if they don't combine with Lincoln and Willow Run and cut their overhead, and union contracts. Their single biggest taxpayer (ACH Ypsilanti--formerly Visteon)shut down two years ago causing a loss of $900,000 in taxes. The taxe base is dropping like a rock and the student population is declining quickly also. This school district will not be able to keep cutting fast enough to stay in business. On top of all that, they are one of the worst performing districts in Washtenaw County, second only to Willow Run I believe.
Jay Thomas
Wed, Jan 26, 2011 : 2:31 p.m.
Multiply the amount spent per student by the average classroom size and you will find that there is adequate funding. Blaming conservatives is old hat. Conservatives don't run Ypsi and only just came to power (after 8 years of Granholm). Time to cut some administrators and put the money in the classroom..
Grant
Wed, Jan 26, 2011 : 11:14 a.m.
After actually reading the "Plan" document, it seems that most of the financial uncertainly in carrying it out is the unwillingness of the unions to agree to concessions, which are necessary to provide funds to the children for a decent education.
eastsidemom
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 11:13 p.m.
In question: The money for the Admin building was from the past bond (voted for by the people of the voters in the district) and by law cannot be spent on operating costs. Re Charters: The CREDO study evaluated student progress on math tests in half the nation's five thousand charter schools and concluded that 17 percent were superior to a matched traditional public school; 37 percent were worse than the public school; and the remaining 46 percent had academic gains no different from that of a similar public school. The proportion of charters that get amazing results is far smaller than 17 percent. What all this charter business is promoting is a two tier system, those with in charters and those without in public...
In Question
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 9:22 p.m.
This is the biggest insult to the taxpayers I have ever seen! If they were worried about the deficit it seems like they would have the common sense not to spend in excess of a million dollars to beautify the administration building, which was fine the way it was. They said they needed a conference room??? Well with all the buildings sitting empty.......there is your place for meetings. Also, why would a district that is in financial trouble hire an assistant superintendant at a six figure salary? A position that was never needed when enrollment was at it's peak, and is now at an all time low???????? Hire Assistant principals which are probably costing more than the head teacher system did....which adds up to more ADMINISTRATORS. The only deficit plan that is going to pay off is to eleminate a bunch of administrators, not the people that are making peanuts compared to them.
Sandy Castle
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 5:26 p.m.
What strikes me as interesting is that there is mention of an assault occuring at the high school and yet there was never a news article about it or a call home to alert other families with kids in the school. This is just another example of the school district covering up the bad things happening at Ypsi High. After 13+ years with kids in the Ypsilanti School District, we chose to move our Freshman daughter to Milan Schools. The Richie's are right, getting rid of the monitors will only serve to make Ypsilanti High even more dangerous for our children than it is right now. Although, how would anyone know how dangerous it is? None of it ever makes the news or facilitates a call home!!! After having been an involved parent for years, I understand why parents choose charter schools over some public schools. Why leave you kid in an underperforming, unsafe environment?
sad day
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 4:46 p.m.
I have 6 grandchildren in the Ypsilanti Public school system and hope that if the cuts take place my children remove them. They saw their plan to consolidate bus service did not work and now you want to remove the cleanliness, feeding and security out of the buildings. I hope that the tax payers turn down the millage renewal in May. We have all seen what a waste of money that has been over the years. Perhaps Ypsi schools should fall on their faces, I'm sure Lincoln or Willow run can accommodate the students and there will be no more bullying from central administration, and they will also be looking for jobs, I'm sure that their tenure at Ypsilanti is something they would not want on their resumes because it would show other districts that they are failures.
goingfast3579
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 4:25 p.m.
The main issue is jobs. If there are no jobs people have no means to pay taxes which pays the schools. Ypsilanti has been a dying town for 20 years it is and has always been a town of manufacturing and commerce. Not just EMU or ST. Joe's Hospital. If more jobs are cut it will not help but hurt more. And to open a shop selling things made in China and not living in the area wont help because the money goes elsewhere. If you start a small retail shop you are going to work it not hire anyone at least not for a living wage.
YpsiLivin
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 4:18 p.m.
Dotdash, If the state wanted to encourage all public school districts to perform consistently at a high level, it would indeed issue all parents school vouchers for a fixed dollar amount. Parents could take the voucher to any school, public or private. Schools (both public and private) that perform well succeed and survive; those that bring little to the table evaporate. Applying a little "educational Darwinism" to the system would ensure that the state would never again subsidize failure as it does today. Public education is the last great welfare queen. Something has to change, and it doesn't involve digging deeper into the taxpayer's pocket to find more money to prop up failing and dying school districts. The K-12 landscape in Michigan would look vastly different if parents were afforded real choice in education.
Macabre Sunset
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 3:22 p.m.
They are right on one count. There is no need to have "student support coordinators" to handle assaults and discipline. We already pay to have a police force and a court system. I have no idea why students get a free pass to commit horrible crimes against the most vulnerable members of society simply because they're at school. Calling for higher taxes elsewhere isn't going to solve the problem, either. They are trapped by the state mandate for pension plans, though. Hopefully the governor will address this issue quickly.
dotdash
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 2:53 p.m.
I wish people would stop comparing private schools to public ("they do better with less"). These types of schools are not comparable. Public schools have to take everyone. They teach the poorest, the least school-ready, the kids with the most unstable home-lives. In cases where charter schools draw from the same population and are held to the same funding levels and rules as public schools, they do no better and often do worse. And religious schools? Religious schools are usually heavily subsidized by their parishes, they pay their teachers very low (or no) salaries, and they have the freedom to pick and choose students that public schools don't. Apples and oranges. I suggest anyone who thinks charter schools or voucher system might be the answer to read about the state of education when there was no public education -- Victorian England, say. There was, in effect, a voucher system in Victorian England for the poor, and the result was corruption and injustice. So please stop the simplistic comparisons. Let's put on our grownup hats and try to solve the problem we have.
Chase Ingersoll
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 1:56 p.m.
I grew up experiencing three different public schools, one private school and two private religious schools. I had excellent public school teachers and school districts where the parents were highly involved and the majority of my classmates attended competitive four year colleges. However, not one of the public schools could match the level of instruction and learning that I received from the private schools who operated on a fraction of the budget of the public schools. Further, the social environment at the private and religious schools was nothing but dramatically superior to the public schools, and this was in the 1970's and 1980's. I and those former private school attendees are a significant part of the The "increasingly successful, decades-long campaign by small-government "no new taxes" conservatives to destroy the public sector (and especially free public education)..." 1. I am barely old enough to remember Breshnev, but this sounds like something he would have said, in blaming the West for the Soviet Blocs empty store shelves. 2. FREE?! Public education is fundamentally not free, even for the child who is receiving the public education as it is that very child who as a consumer and as the beneficiary of wages paid to tax paying parents, is indirectly taxed even as a child by the institutional inefficiencies and incompetence of the public sector education as specifically compared to schools whose clients have choice. Further, that child will be taxed all of their wage earning years to support the grotesque public school legacy costs (pensions).
Glen S.
Tue, Jan 25, 2011 : 11:51 a.m.
Only a few days ago, AnnArbor.com had an article about how National Heritage Academies was planning to build two new private, for-profit schools (a middle school and a high school) in Ypsilanti township. Today, we have an article about how the Ypsilanti Public Schools plans to cut teachers and counselors, outsource vital services to low-wage, no-benefit contractors, and close additional school buildings. It is important to understand that these two local events are related, and being repeated all across our state, and nation -- the result of an increasingly successful, decades-long campaign by small-government, "no new taxes" conservatives to destroy the public sector (and especially free public education) in favor of private, for-profit (and often religious) education. Regarding the latest cuts, I don't necessarily blame the YPS Board. In making these cuts, and thereby balancing the budget and satisfying State regulators, technically, they did the "right" thing. But make no mistake, in the long run, fewer (and less well paid) school teachers, larger class sizes, and vital services provided by low-cost, no-benefit contractors will not "save," our public schools -- they will only serve to hasten their decline. And that is exactly what many conservatives, including many of our own state legislators, intend to happen.