Ypsilanti school board members urge residents to march on state Capitol

Ypsilanti trustee Kira Berman and vice president Linda Horne confirmed they'll be at the march to the state Capitol. They and several others involved in the effort are meeting at 11 a.m. in the Ypsilanti High School parking lot to make signs and carpool to the rally.

Trustee Kira Berman

The state has cut funding by $168 per pupil this year, and districts have been told to expect another $250 to $400 per pupil cut in the coming year, according to Berman.

Ypsilanti Public Schools is considering school closures and teacher layoffs as it contends with a roughly $6.8 million budget shortfall. District officials attribute much of the current financial crisis to cuts in state funding.

“If we don’t change the way the state funds education, then we will continue to see these cuts, not just in Ypsilanti but all over the sate of Michigan,” Berman said. “And it’s the children in the schools who lose.”

The district recently made nearly $500,000 in cuts, but the board approved an amended budget at its Monday night meeting in which the deficit grew. District chief financial officer David Houle explained to the board that growth in the deficit is largely due to cuts in state funding.

“It’s devastating,” Berman said. “These are devastating cuts and excruciating decisions we have to make.”

The rally starts at the state Capitol at 1:45 p.m. A position paper can found on the website of Save Our Schools, one of the event's organizers, at www.sosmichgan.org. For more information, contact Berman at kira.berman@gmail.com.

Tom Perkins is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.