Foes, backers ramping up Washtenaw County school enhancement millage campaigns

And so, she’s not quite decided on how she’ll vote when she heads to the polls on Nov. 3.

A lot of folks in Washtenaw County share her indecision.

They're faced with deciding whether to believe supporters, who say passing this ballot measure is the only way to preserve the quality of education in area schools, or opponents, who say the tax is too large and schools could find ways to be more efficient.

With less than a month to go before Election Day, both sides are ramping up their efforts to educate voters - holding forums, sending mailings and updating Web sites.

Much of that action is concentrated in the Ann Arbor school district, which both sides say is key to success on Election Day. If Ann Arbor voters approve the millage, it’s likely to pass, no matter which side voters in other districts are on. The opposite is also true.

The basics

The millage would raise about $30 million countywide each year. It would cost the owner of a home with a $100,000 taxable value $200 per year. It would be in place for five years.

The money raised would be split among the county’s 10 traditional school districts - Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, Willow Run and Whitmore Lake. Charter schools in the county would not receive any funds from the tax. It would be collected by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District and distributed to the school districts based on student enrollment.

Ann Arbor would get the largest chunk of the money - about $11 million each year.

The overall county vote is what will determine passage. If, for example, voters in one school district vote it down, but it passes countywide, all county property owners, including those in the district where it failed, would be assessed the tax.

The money would go into each district’s general fund. There would be no restrictions on how it would be spent.

The case for the millage

Todd Roberts

Ann Arbor schools Superintendent Todd Roberts says the case for the millage is simple: The state has made steep cuts in school funding to balance its budget, and districts need to find a way to replace some of that money.

Per-pupil state aid makes up the bulk of local school districts' revenue. As it has dropped, many districts have had to repeatedly cut money from their budgets, jeopardizing the quality of education they can offer, administrators say. A spending plan approved by the state legislature for this school year cuts funding by $165 per pupil.

And under Proposal A, local school districts can’t go directly to voters and ask for operating money. But they can band together and seek a countywide enhancement millage that will benefit all the districts in the county.

Ann Arbor has already made millions of dollars in cuts in the past several years and is facing an estimated $15 million budget shortfall next school year. That equates to about 200 positions.

"We believe that the quality of our community would suffer" if the millage doesn't pass, Roberts said.

Roberts said Ann Arbor has tightened its belt by reducing its staff, negotiating a no-pay-raise contract with the teachers union this school year and working with other county school districts to look at consolidating services.

"Locally, we're trying to take control" of our finances, Roberts said, adding even if the millage passes, cuts would likely be needed next year. "We can't wait for the state to solve the problem. We're hoping the community will support us take some control over our destiny. This is not an Ann Arbor issue. It's a county issue."

The other area school districts are pinning their hopes on the millage as well.

"I think a misnomer out there is that this is an enhancement millage. I don't believe there is one district in the county that will be enhancing," Chelsea School District Superintendent David Killips said. "This is about maintenance and survival."

Bryan Girbach, the superintendent of Milan Area Schools, agreed.

"As we've trimmed back and trimmed back … we're getting to the point where there's nowhere to trim without affecting the program for our kids. I don't think the residents of Washtenaw County will be happy with the education program we can offer with that kind of cut."

The case against the millage

While supporters of the millage focus a lot of their attention and rhetoric on what would happen in the schools if the enhancement millage passes or fails, Kathy Griswold, a former Ann Arbor school board member, and Ted Annis, a local businessman and member of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority board, decided instead to focus on what would happen to taxpayers if it passes.

The two, who are among the leaders of the anti-millage group Citizens for Responsible School Spending, didn’t like what they saw.

“I find it to be an unreasonable request,” Annis said. “It’s an 11 percent increase (in the number of mills levied for schools). That’s a lot in hard times."

Ann Arbor homeowners already pay more than 17 mills to support schools, millage opponents point out. A mill is a tax of $1 per $1,000 of a home's taxable value.

Annis puts a twist on the supporters' "It takes a millage to educate a child" mantra. Referencing the six millages Ann Arbor residents already pay to the local district and the intermediate school district, he said, "evidently it takes six millages, and soon a seventh, to educate a child.”

The group sees bloat in the Ann Arbor school district - noting that when you divide the number of students by the number of teachers, you get a ratio of about 14 students to every teacher. The district should be able to realign its teaching resources to make sure students still get a good education, millage opponents say.

Annis said millage supporters are engaging in scare tactics when they predict gloom and doom if the millage fails.

The citizens' group is also upset that all the money raised in some districts won’t be spent in that district.

For example, in Ann Arbor, $16 million will be raised each year. Only $11 million will be sent to Ann Arbor. The rest will go to other districts.

Griswold said voters shouldn’t think Ann Arbor school officials are simply being generous to other districts.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s help our brothers in Ypsi,’ when it puts revenue in the bank for Ann Arbor as well.”

The citizens' group isn’t the only one against the millage. The Washtenaw County Republican Party voted recently to oppose it.

“The proposed 2 mill ($30 million) annual tax increase will push already struggling taxpayers over the edge, causing them to lose their homes, and further weakening the tax base of the county," Wyckham Seelig, vice chairman of the party, said in a statement. "It will achieve nothing beyond putting a temporary bandage on a fundamentally flawed educational finance and expenditure system.

“What we need to have is a serious, non-stop cost control effort, including much more privatization of non-teaching functions, vigorous competitive bidding for all school system business, and, most importantly, more cost effective teacher compensation packages.”

David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.