Seaholm Highlander

Districts across the state will have to tighten their belts even more.

Just when it appeared that state legislature would only be cutting $165 per pupil cut throughout Michigan schools, on Monday Governor Jennifer Granholm signed off on removing approximately $54 million from the public school by eliminating 20J funding. For Birmingham Public Schools, this means an additional $955,748 loss in state funds.

“These cuts are just one problem on top of another,” said District Spokesperson Marcia Wilkinson.

Granholm said the legislature left her no choice.

“The school aid budget presented to me is inadequately funded,” Granholm said in an October 19 release. “If this school aid bill were a check drawn on a bank, it would be returned for insufficient funds.”

Granholm went on to place the blame on the legislature, saying the body had “much more work to do to complete a balanced funding for our schools.”

Senate Republicans said Granholm’s move was politically motivated. A majority of the districts affected are wealthy Republican districts in Oakland and Wayne County.

Granholm’s veto, Senate Majority Leader Michael Bishop (R-Rochester) said, was a serious mistake.

“Do not veto portions of these budgets with the expectation that money will be reappropriated at a later date to fund the vetoed programs,” said Bishop in an October 20 letter to Granholm. “There is not sufficient support in the Senate Republican caucus for tax increases and for you to think otherwise is a mistake.”

Birmingham Education Associate (BEA) vice president and Seaholm teacher Scott Craig agrees that Granholm’s actions could have serious ramifications on school districts, especially Birmingham Schools.

“The budget situation in Lansing could be disastrous to Birmingham Schools if these cuts go through,” said Craig.

In addition to this reduction, BPS is anticipating additional cuts in state per pupil funding. Although state legislature signed off only a $165 cut on October 8th, shortages in state revenues could mean even more reductions in per pupil funding.

“They evidently think that the original figure on what they thought the revenue would be is now going to be a lot lower,” said Wilkinson. “It could be as much as $300 per student.”

With the current $165 per pupil cut, BPS stands to lose about $1.3 million. But with the possibility of more cuts in the near future, BPS is worried about how loss of funding could affect their growing deficit.

“We’ve already been dealing with a structural deficit for many years,” said Wilkinson. “In the next two years we anticipate to incur $16 million deficits, so per pupil cuts would just add to an ever growing problem.”

Although State Legislature has yet to tax, BPS’s goal is to keep any cuts away from the classroom.

“This is considered a midyear cut, so because programs and services are already in place, we would try to locate as many areas to reduce funds that did not impact students,” said Wilkinson.

In the past, BPS has frozen funds for supplies, conferences, and travel expenses to offset figure cuts. Wilkinson also noted that the district would not be spending any funds that were not absolutely necessary to maintain business.

“It puts [BPS] in a very difficult situation when the state makes these cuts,” said Wilkinson.

Although the School Aid Fund (SAF) that was passed earlier this year includes $100 million in new revenues designed to balance the budget, The Legislature has yet to come to an agreement on these revenues.

“Without further action, the cut to the state’s school districts will skyrocket,” said Wilkinson. “Whatever we do to address the situation, we want to make sure it doesn’t impact the students in anyway.”

Craig feels that if cuts go through, BPS will have no choice but to make major changes across the board.

“We could be forced to lay off teachers and cut programs,” said Craig. “Down the road we could be looking at closing down one or two elementary schools, maybe closing a middle school.”

Since the school year is already underway, BPS cannot make changes to these contracts next school year. However, it is likely that BPS administrators will look to make staffing changes next school year.

“We haven’t started formal bargaining with them yet, but I’m sure once we do, they will want take backs [in staffing],” said Craig.

But in addition to state wide per pupil cuts, Governor Granholm and state legislature have yet to make decision on whether they will be eliminating or reducing the Michigan Merit Promise Scholarships, a decision that has much potential to impact students.

“The students are suffering from this one,” said Wilkinson.

BPS anticipates that state legislature will have a final decision cuts in per pupil funding by the end of the month. In the mean time, the school board has organized two community discussions on budget issues. These meetings will be held on October 22nd at Berkshire and November 5th at Derby. Both meetings will start at 7pm.

“We are hoping we can get a lot of input from the community and people in the district about things they might suggest,” said Wilkinson.

Seaholm parent and former PTSA Volunteer of the Year Lori Eaton is one of the many members of the community with ideas on how to approach budget shortages.

“I would probably look far away from the class room first,” said Eaton. “Selling the old administration building is a good place to start.”

Generally, Wilkinson seems optimistic that with help from the community, the school district will be able to find solutions for state cuts that will have as little impact on the classrooms as possible.

“There is so much talent within this district that we are hoping that by pulling together we can come up with some good options,” said Wilkinson.