Schools Get More Cash, Keep Cutting: Cost of Benefits Hits Hard

By Lori Higgins, Detroit Free Press

Mar. 30–Even with increased funding this year, Michigan schools continue to cut staffing and programs, and many are dipping into rainy-day funds to avoid financial disaster.

“Schools are still sliding towards the edge,” Tom White, executive director of Michigan School Business Officials, said Monday. The group sponsored a survey released this week that shows that many districts are eliminating jobs and aren’t filling openings.

In some districts, including West Bloomfield and Livonia, the budget cuts are sparking concern and controversy among parents.

Amy Drean, a parent with two children attending West Bloomfield schools, said Monday that cuts at the middle school level will mean fewer opportunities for her son to take electives when he becomes a sixth-grader next school year.

“My son is going to be…limited to only four electives,” Drean said.

That concerns her, she said, because research shows those kinds of classes are beneficial for developing students.

Administrators said the $175-per-pupil increase in funding this school year is being eaten up by rising costs for health insurance and retirement

“Our cuts this year do reach all levels,” Steve Wasko, spokesman for the West Bloomfield School District, said Monday. “It’s the first time we’re cutting in the classroom.”

The district’s Board of Education has approved reductions of about $3.8 million for the 2006-07 school year. Among the steps the district will take: increase the size of elementary classes in grades 1-5, switch from a seven-period day to a six-period day at the middle school level and cut about eight teaching positions at the high school.

The district will make up an additional $1.2 million by doing things such as dipping into its rainy-day fund. It is to approve the budget for the 2006-07 school year in June.

Drean is part of a group called Citizens for West Bloomfield Schools that is trying to educate parents about school funding and working with legislators to find a solution. Drean said she likes the idea of raising the state’s sales tax to boost spending for schools.

A different set of parents has started a Web log at bestforthekids.blogspot.com. that is full of angry comments about the district’s budget decisions, particularly those that affect the arts.

In Livonia, a plan by the Livonia Public Schools to restructure its schools is in the courts as a group of parents tries to keep the district from moving forward with plans to close some schools and consolidate others.

Of the 234 school districts that responded to the random survey earlier this month, nearly three-quarters — 73% — said they were not filling open positions, and 82% said they were dipping into their rainy-day funds to cover expenses. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

In all, the schools eliminated 859 positions, according to the survey done by the Lansing-based polling firm EPIC/MRA for Michigan School Business Officials.

The business group is part of the K-16 Coalition for Michigan’s Future, which is pushing for annual inflationary increases in funding for schools, universities and community colleges. The state has 535 school districts.

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or higgins@freepress.com.

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