Our district is/was in the red. Last year bus cuts were made so that some students in the district started as early as 7:15 and some as late as 10:00am so busses could be shared.
Supposedly some funding came through and more busses were brought in after the 1st of the year and the 10:00 time was adjusted. Thank you.
A referendum finally went through in November only under much controversy. Still is not fully settled. We have had the Superintendent and Asst. Super of Financial Service resign do to misleading info on our referendum.
Tax increase potential way higher than we were told.
Sometimes you just can't cover all the avenues, people can deceive. Keep vocal.
[ 03-13-2005, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: KDW ]
<Kim Kozlowski>
Visitor
19 years 8 months ago#65481by <Kim Kozlowski>
One thing I have noticed and hope to share....please be proactive at the meetings. Don't ask what happened but how can we help? Totally shock the Board and ask how the PTO can be of support so that our children don't miss a beat! What about job sharing? Would that help with the expense of running the front office? Often they don't really look at this from a business stand point....well, one that makes sense...dollars and cents!
Our district just got passed another mill levi yet still haven't really answered to the public where the other $18M went to so fast! Wish Donald Trump would "adopt" a school district!
Thanks for the information downrivermama. I know everyone in the state is in the same boat. I didn't know about the movement but I will be writing letters and getting other parents to write.
The cuts were made, wasn't as bad but bad enough. Thanks to everyone for their help.
I attended a meeting on December 2nd in Dearborn regarding the school funding problem in MI. It was put on by Wayne RESA and featured speakers who explained the current funding situation. Every school district in Wayne County could bring 10 parents and school adminstrators/school board members. The auditorium was bpacked! The campaign is called "OUR KIDS CAN'T WAIT:Fair Funding for Schools. Basically, the leadership in Lansing has told school board members that until they hear from "Real People" i.e. parents, the legislature will not work on the problem. Proposal A really hasn't done much good to fix school financing, not to mention didn't really lower property taxes.
Did you know that the past 2 school years, no student in Michigan has been fully by the state?
Each pupil is supose to recieve $6,700 each year, but they haven't.
So this meeting was to start a grass roots movement among parents to make our voices heard in Lansing. They would like people to talk about the problem to everyone they can. Second they would like a letter writing campaign to our representatives, especially the house and senate leaders. The time frame is from January 2005 to April, when they consider the budget for fiscal year 2006.
My school district has cut so much that I don't know what more could be cut. So far no layoffs, but if the state cuts mid school year, we will be in trouble.
Here are a couple of websites to check out.
RESA.net MSBO.org
So see in Michigan you we are all in the same boat!
hi, we feel your pain. next-door district cut 20 days off the school year to balance their district budget -- it was awful.
what are your options within the budget structure of your area? for example, our district avoided cut days and cut staff by passing a local levy to tax ourselves more to cover the difference.
rally, rally, rally the troops! find experts within your parent groups; someone will have experience, hopefully, with nonprofit foundation-type fundraising. form a foundation to try and pay for staff.