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 Education
Cuts Loom for Michigan Districts
by Stacey Range and Adam Emerson, Lansing State Journal,
October 29, 2003
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Laying off
teachers, consolidating classes and charging for extracurricular
activities are some of the changes local school districts are
pondering as state officials decide how to tackle Michigan's
latest fiscal crisis. The state is $350 million short in money
for schools this year. Officials are weighing whether to make a
$196 per-pupil across-the-board cut or trim specific areas, such
as vocational studies and programs for at-risk students.
Either way, schools are going to suffer and districts are
bracing for midyear cuts in budgets already slashed at the
beginning of the academic year.
"I feel like Rocky's opponent," said David Gray, superintendent
of Eaton Rapids Public Schools. "You've hit me with a right, so
go ahead and hit me with a left because I don't think it can
feel much worse."
The pending cuts have caused worry for teachers, parents and
students.
Paula Sifferd, a parent of two children in the Lansing School
District, said she fears teacher layoffs will balloon class
sizes, which already have grown this school year.
"You can't have bigger classrooms," Sifferd said. "The teachers
are so overworked. If they do cut, that's just going to hurt us
more."
Lingering economic doldrums and high unemployment have left the
state with lower income and sales tax revenue than expected. In
all, the state is nearly $900 million short for the fiscal year
that began Oct. 1.
For schools, that means either a cut for all students or cutting
funds for specific programs such as vocational studies, at-risk
students and adult education.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm suggested Tuesday that she's leaning more
toward across-the-board cuts.
Granholm said she got letters last week from the Michigan
Association of School Administrators and intermediate school
district officials urging her to make across-the-board cuts.
State officials cut $134 million in a similar move last January.
"This cut would give schools more flexibility to decide where to
make the cuts," Granholm said. "If schools say that's their
preference, I would abide by their request."
Local district officials said an across-the-board cut is more
equitable, even though suburban schools would benefit more from
specific program cuts.
"For selfish reasons we would rather have cuts to at-risk
programs and school readiness," said Robert Regan,
superintendent of Haslett schools, which could lose $500,000 if
across-the-board cuts are made. "We wouldn't lose as much that
way."
Last year, only 319 students, or 11 percent of the system's
nearly 3,000 students, were part of the district's at-risk
programs. In Lansing public schools, more than 8,000 of the
17,253 students, or 46 percent, were in at-risk programs.
Urban districts
Mark Mayes, spokesman for the Lansing School District, said
urban school districts such as Lansing would be hit especially
hard with cuts in at-risk funding for after-school programs and
other services. Lansing receives more than $6 million in at-risk
funding.
"This is a statewide problem, and all districts should have to
share the pain," Mayes said.
Options facing schools are few because many districts already
slashed their budgets at the beginning of the academic year.
A cut in supplies, for instance, could affect schools that
already have had to make such cuts earlier this year.
Haslett High School teacher Julie Price teaches photography and
supervises the yearbook and student newspaper with little new
technology in the classroom.
"We've had to cut supplies by 33 percent," Price said. "We use
so much technology. It's hard to stay on top when you can't make
those changes."
Eaton Rapids already has cut nearly $2 million in spending this
year, Gray said. The district lost 16 teachers, mostly through
attrition, and much of the staff agreed to various changes such
as lower cost health insurance and shorter work days. Now, the
district is facing another $650,000 cut.
Gray said the district could impose a moratorium on purchases
for materials and professional development opportunities for
teachers.
The district also could look at expanding a new fee for
extracurricular activities. Starting this year, the district is
collecting fees to offset the cost of athletics, clubs and
after-school activities. Students in after-school activities now
must pay $10. Athletics fees are $60 for high school students
and $30 for middle school students.
Lansing schools could lose $3.3 million with an across-the-board
cut.
To spread the impact, Mayes said the district might ask every
department to cut spending by up to 10 percent. The district
also could dip into its $26 million reserves, but that would
leave the district in a bind next year.
And, Mayes said, no one has ruled out layoffs.
"Anytime you're talking of a large cut there is a potential for
layoffs," Mayes said. "Certainly we can't rule it out."
Regan, the Haslett schools chief, said his district also could
lay off a few teachers and merge classrooms. But, he said, that
would directly impact students.
"That would be very painful," Regan said. "We would have to move
25 students out of their favorite teacher's class into another
class, giving them a new teacher in the middle of school year
and taking them away from their classmates."
East Lansing schools
East Lansing Public Schools will see only minor cuts this time
around. The district earlier this year slashed $4.2 million,
mostly by closing Spartan Village Elementary School and
privatizing custodial staff. District officials also planned for
the worst, building into the budget the potential for a $600,000
cut.
Now, if lawmakers approve an across-the-board cut, East Lansing
schools will have to cut just $100,000, said Maria Bolen,
director of finance.
"Things have been so bad lately we knew something more would
come," she said.
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