Macomb Reacts to School Aid Cuts Passed by State House

On Thursday, Michigan legislators passed House Bill 4325, which dictates severe funding cuts to community colleges, universities and public schools. The cuts, which will go into effect in October, have been called “devastating” by local school boards.

"We believe we have done much to improve our financial situation, and their action does nothing but make it worse," said Chippewa Valley Interim Superintendent Ron Roberts. "We will continue to find ways to reduce cost and to protect the program because the federal and state governments have mandates in place regarding the qualities of our graduates, so while they’re reducing the cost, we need to develop a program which prepares our kids for the future and therein lies the dilemma."

The bill slashes spending to K-12 schools by 3.5 percent, a number that sounds minuscule, but means cuts ranging from $256 to $297 per pupil when compared with funding for the current school year.

These cuts come in addition to $170 per student cut that's already in place and will be carried over into the next fiscal year.

Funding for community colleges and universities will also be cut.

The Republican-led House approved the bill by a narrow 57-53 vote.

Rep. Ken Goike, who represents Macomb Township in the state House, was one of the 57 to vote "yes" on the bill.

“The reason (the bill) even took so long (to pass) is because everybody understands the severity and we’re all concerned about children’s education and we’re looking for all types of education to make (cuts) less severe and to do the best thing possible,” Goike said. “That’s what it took to get my vote there. The school districts all told me they want to know by June 1 to set their budgets, so knowing what the Senate has done on their side, going to conference, and knowing we will have another vote coming back, by voting yes and getting everything rolling, hopefully we can get a lot better bill out that we can vote on and school districts will be able to plan accordingly.”

Chippewa Valley Board of Education Trustee Denise Aquino said while she agrees it is better to know about the cuts as far in advance as possible, the bill is still "devastating and disappointing."

"I'm very disappointed because we met with our representatives (Ken) Goike and (Marilyn) Lane trying to explain how this will affect us," Aquino said. "It's very devastating and disappointing. It is better to know, but that is such a devastating outcome. I appreciate (Goike's) efforts, but I was hoping there could be some deal struck that didn’t take quite as much (from education funding)."

Goike said he understands the concerns of school boards, educators and parents, but cuts must be made.

"Education is very important and we want to be able to help the teachers do what they need to so they can get results," he said. "Throwing money at something is not a solution. We want to give them tools to get a better education out of K-12 than what they have."

For local school boards that will have to cut their own budgets due to the lack of state funding, Goike said he believes solutions can be found in reducing wages and benefits.

"You can’t make money off of a money tree," he said. "When you look at wages and such all going on, obviously local school boards, they have a tough job to do, when so much money is spent in wages and benefits. I would suggest they look at those solutions. It’s a big bite, but there’s no two ways about it." 

Aquino said the Chippewa Valley school board will continue to work with all employee groups to solve the problem together.

"We will have to make cuts," she said. "All we can do is work together."

However, Aquino said Chippewa Valley, as the largest district in the state with the lowest funding, will not have the advantage of many of its neighbors when it comes to making cuts. 

"We’ve seen cut lists from surrounding districts and they're cutting things we don’t have," Aquino said. "We’ve been running on a shoe string for a little while."

The district's $14 million fund equity will help it weather the storm for one year, but  "now in one fell swoop, everything we have worked hard to achieve is gone with one stroke of the pen," Aquino said.

The bill's cuts, when implemented, will reduce Chippewa's funding to its 2005-06 rate.

"If we do nothing, we'll be deficit spending next year," Aquino said. "We’ll last one year. We can’t let that happen."

In L’Anse Creuse Public Schools, the House vote was another disheartening sign for the district with approximately 11,500 students.

“What can we say? It’s going to really horrifically impact our school district if it goes through as it is,” said Michelle Irwin, senior director of community relations.

The total estimated annual loss for the district that winds through Chesterfield, Macomb and Harrison townships, is $10 million of its approximate $110-million budget. That’s also due to other cost increases, such as $245-per-student mandatory retirement fees, Irwin said.

District officials haven’t decided what measures would be taken to offset the cuts, if implemented, she said.

Goike did admit the Catch-22 of the education cuts.

"It's a really, really tough situation we're in," he said. "We need educated students to get jobs, but how do we educate without money? It's give and take. Some people have made sacrifices and some haven’t."

The bill must be reconciled with a Senate proposal and signed by the governor before it becomes law.

Higher Education Cuts

The bill will also cut state funding to universities and community colleges by 15 to 22 percent.

As the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Community Colleges and a longtime advocate of the institutions, Goike said he found it especially difficult to vote yes on a bill that will reduce state funding for higher education.

"It was very tough to make that decision, but our staff, we’ve doe a lot of homework and worked with presidents of community colleges," he said. "Because of the severity of the money situation in the state, it pains me, but we did a 15 pecent cut." 

Roberts said he feels the decision to combine government aid to public schools, universities and community colleges all in one fund "violates the tenants of Proposal A."

"This year first time since 1994 that community colleges and universities have been put into (the School Aid) fund," Roberts said. "That is not the way it was sold to voters and now at this time they choose to change that. They’ve certainly cut out some great challenges for us and we will develop plans to deal with that."