Area school districts brace for more funding cuts from state

By CRISTINA TRAPANI-SCOTT
and DEB WUETHRICH

As State of Michigan legislators went into 11th-hour discussions on the
state budget Wednesday, schools throughout the state were bracing for
as much as a $218 cut to per pupil funding, in addition to a proposed
44-percent cut in funds going to Intermediate School Districts and the
elimination of Promise Grants. All three school districts, Tecumseh,
Clinton and Britton-Macon, in the Herald coverage area are sweating out
the final outcome.

“The $218 is going to hurt bad enough, but the 44-percent at the ISD
will also have an effect because we get some funding from them. How
much of an impact? We don’t know,” said Clinton Supt. David Pray.

Clinton Community Schools already is faced with lower than expected
enrollment, even with a record number of Schools of Choice students.
Pray said the school district did anticipate a cut, but only about half
of what the state is proposing. The new figure will mean as much as
$250,000 less revenue for the district. “The bottom line is it’s going
to hurt,” he said. “The thing that hurts most is that it’s a surprise.
The $218 came out of nowhere. We had expected as much as $110, but the
other $108 came out of nowhere. What do we do now when the year is
already one-quarter the way over? Eighty-two percent of our budget is
salary and benefits. We can’t cut people now.”

Britton-Macon Area School could lose up to $135,000, should the cuts be
finalized. “It cuts the heart out of education,” said Supt. Chuck
Pelham. “We are just waiting to see what the numbers are going to be.
Then we’ll examine the impact it will have on our budget and make the
necessary adjustments.”

Like Clinton, Britton anticipated some cuts prior to adopting the
current budget. “We knew it was coming,” Pelham said. “We’ll wait and
see then have a board workshop, look at all the programs top to bottom
and then make a decision when we see what the numbers will truly be. I
know there will be cuts in the future, but we are going to try to
minimize cuts that directly impact education programs.”

The most recent reports coming from the state indicate that it’s still
possible stimulus funds will be used to minimize cuts to the school
districts. Tecumseh Schools Supt. Mike McAran said that whether the
figure is $218, $240 as proposed by the Senate, or some other figure,
the cuts constituted “a lot of money.” He said that the district had
steeled itself for some cuts, however, based on figures put out through
annual revenue sharing conferences, and budgeted for reductions of $110
per student. McAran said while the district would have fund equity that
could get the schools through this year, next year could be even worse.

“I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen then,” said McAran.
Tecumseh School Board member Jimmie Rice said that what the state is
doing is “abhorrent.” He said that he spoke with State Representative
Dudley Spade during a recent coffee hour in the area.

“I told him that the state practice of having their fiscal year start
after ours starts and expecting schools to run in the black every year
without knowing the year’s foundation allowance was just absurd,” said
Rice. He also said that the Michigan Association of School Boards was
also hinting that by June of 2011, 40 percent of school districts could
be in the red.