Washtenaw County school officials headed to Lansing for school funding rally
A week after area voters defeated a countywide schools enhancement millage, Washtenaw County school districts are busy trying to figure out what comes next in their funding and spending.
On the funding front, several Ann Arbor area districts are planning to send representatives to Lansing Tuesday morning for a rally sponsored by a statewide education group, Save Our Schools.
Local districts will talk to their lawmakers on the steps and lawn of the Capitol. The event runs from 10 a.m. to noon.
I plan to attend and will file updates from Lansing.
A little closer to home, several school board are meeting this week - and finances dominate the agendas.
Today:
- Ypsilanti schools will meet at 7 p.m. in the high school. The board will review the audit of last year’s spending, which will give a clear picture of just where the district is this year.
- Lincoln will also meet at 7 p.m. at Brick Elementary. They also will review the audit of last year’s books. Also on the agenda is a resolution looking at funding for education and a discussion of budget cuts.
- Whitmore Lake will gather at 7 p.m. at the middle school for a board/administration retreat. The topic? “The future of the district.”
On Tuesday:
- The Saline school board will get together at 6:30 p.m. at Union School. On its agenda is a report on the enhancement millage and a report from Superintendent Scot Graden on the future of Union School.
On Thursday:Â
- The Ann Arbor school board’s performance committee will gather. An agenda is not yet available for that meeting.
As always, if there are things going on I should be writing about, feel free to e-mail me.
David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.
Comments
Basic Bob
Tue, Nov 10, 2009 : 12:17 a.m.
I agree that neither the students or the teachers should be the ones who suffer the most. But we have elected the school boards to direct a superintendent to operate the schools, and they in turn have authority over every other school employee. The administration needs to foster a culture of economic as well as educational success and quit the blamestorming.
TownieMom68
Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 6:17 p.m.
Who are these representatives? If they are teachers, administrators, or school staff will they be taking the day off without pay to go to the rally or will the tax payers be funding their trip to Lansing. I am all for more money for our schools but the administration needs to be doing everything it can to trim the fat. It would be great to know the details of who is going, how the trip is being paid for, and if they are public school employees will they be getting paid for the day off or not.
dotdash
Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 3:24 p.m.
Pam Byrnes, your state rep if you are in the 52nd district, and the speaker pro temp of the house, I believe, IS IN CHINA THIS WEEK. How will she be representing us in the negotiations over school funding this week?
AndyYpsilanti
Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 1:08 p.m.
I would like to know how much has been cut ABOVE the school level. It would seem to me that between the state, county, and city/township that there are redundant positions on the administrative side. Are the people heading to Lansing to join in what is, in all likely hood, and utterly futile demonstration? (demonstrations are for show, not results) If that is the case, I am certain that that is fat that should have been trimmed from the budget, not added. For example, most school districts pay someone to maintain an informational website. These same districts likely have computer classes that include web use. Couldn't the a group of high school students run an informational website for the school, get a real world learning experience and save the district money all at the same time? Would it hurt to have students interested in communications do some PR work? Personally, I wouldnt oppose auto shop classes working for profit in a senior apprentice program. If the school already has a well equipped shop in place, why not provide a real world working experience for students? Maybe these thoughts are a little out there, but clearly we need to do something new! We need to think more creatively about this stuff. Money is not likely to materialize in any significant form soon from the state. We have cut education enough, but the state is still asking for more blood. I say it should come out of their end, followed by cuts in county and local administration, and cuts to board, superintedent and administrative salaries. These are the people that are failing in their jobs, not teachers. The alternative, to cut more from the students themselves, is wrong, and will hurt us immeasurably in the long run.
A2CarGuy
Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 10:56 a.m.
Good for them and I hope they can convince lawmakers that schools can't do business efficiently with these ridiculous mid-year fluctuations in school funding. Once a budget is set, school funding has to be the LAST thing they cut. That said, less money is coming in the state and less money will be coming for the foreseeable future. Auto company wages aren't what they used to be and they aren't ever going to be what they used to be. We're competing with Alabama and Mexico. Districts need to reopen their contracts.
Basic Bob
Mon, Nov 9, 2009 : 10:11 a.m.
This statewide education group 'Save Our Schools' is masquerading as a grassroots movement. In reality it is just a false front for the Michigan Association of School Boards. They are lobbying for guaranteed increasing funding from the state regardless of the capacity of state residents to pay. I guess it is easier to lobby the state legislature for an increase than it is to require responsibility from the school employees, because that does not jeopardize your reelection plans.