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As Schools Cut, Parents Are Frustrated: Even Affluent Districts Are Suffering

Posted on: Friday, 31 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Alex P. Kellogg, Detroit Free Press

Mar. 31--Carol LoPatin and her husband, Norman, are happy with the schooling Rachel, 15, and Aaron, 13, receive in the West Bloomfield School District.

But with major cuts looming in the district for the first time since her children began attending, the LoPatins are considering private schooling.

"We're not happy that we're having to look at private schools," LoPatin, a 45-year-old public relations consultant, said Wednesday. "But we don't know what to do."

The funding crunch some school districts have faced for years is starting to take a toll on Oakland County classrooms -- including some of the state's wealthiest and top-performing districts.

In West Bloomfield, for instance, school officials have proposed nearly $4 million in cuts this year.

The school board is expected to approve the recommended cuts in June.

More than two dozen teaching positions are on the chopping block, including a total of eight at the district's two middle schools, Abbott and Orchard Lake. Eliminating an elective at the middle schools and reducing the number of classes in a day from seven to six also are possibilities.

"I'm angry at Lansing," said Gail Ruby, 49, who has two sons -- Evan, 11, and Austin, 13 -- at Orchard Lake, where she is the president of the Parent Teacher Organization. "The state really needs to re-evaluate how they fund schools."

Ruby blames Proposal A, passed in 1994, for the shortfall. It took the burden of financing education off local property taxes and shifted it to the state sales tax, which in recent years has not generated enough money to keep pace with rising costs.

Other Oakland County districts plan reductions. These include

HOLLY: School board member Susan Julian said Thursday the district is recommending about $2 million in cuts. They may include a handful of teaching jobs and 15 teachers' aides positions,. The district also may reduce the number of electives at the high school and middle school.

TROY: Despite numerous awards and a reputation as a top district, the Troy School District announced this month that it plans to eliminate 15 teaching positions.

FARMINGTON: The district wants to reduce 40 teaching positions to help cut a projected $14-million deficit by half in the next fiscal year. Officials say that could be accomplished by offering an early-retirement incentive.

BIRMINGHAM: The school board approved roughly $1 million in cuts in February and March, including reducing the number of classes at its two middle schools from seven periods to six.

The problems these districts and others across the state face are the same: rising health care and utility costs, as well as rising pension payments.

Looking at the budget, "if adjustments weren't made, things would have gotten impossibly difficult," said Steve Wasko, a spokesman for the West Bloomfield schools. But parents express frustration.

"Every year there's a new cut," said Shelly Tarockoff, 52, who has a 10-year-old daughter at West Bloomfield's Green Elementary School, where she is the PTO president. "It really upsets me."

Contact ALEX P. KELLOGG at 248-351-3693 or akellogg@freepress.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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