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| New schools now too costly to operate | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 9 2008, 07:25 PM (470 Views) | |
| Rocky | Feb 9 2008, 07:25 PM Post #1 |
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Saturday, February 9, 2008 New schools now too costly to operate Valerie Olander / The Detroit News When the $72 million Parker High School campus opened last fall, it was touted by the Michigan Department of Education as the school of the future. The two-story, 1,300-student school has a wing to include classes for a community college, a full-service credit union and offers enhanced educational opportunities for students, including a chance to graduate with a diploma in one hand and an associate degree in the other. "(Parker) is an incubator for us to watch as all these ideas come together," State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said prior to the school opening last fall. But rising operational costs, lower state funding per pupil, dwindling enrollment and a poor state economy have created the perfect storm for districts trying to plan accurately for future needs. On Monday, Howell's Board of Education must decide whether to keep the school open and if so, in what capacity. The district is facing a budget crisis and the board is weighing several options to keep Parker open as well as the district's Howell High that has been undergoing extensive renovations. The fate of a third building used only by freshmen also hangs into the balance -- facing possible closure. Howell's situation is not new. In the past few years, several districts have had bonds approved to build or renovate schools only to find now they don't have the money to pay for teachers, janitors, bus drivers and the utilities to keep school running. In Ann Arbor, a lack of money for staff forced school officials last fall to delay opening the $80 million, four-story Skyline High School, built to ease overcrowding in the district's two other high schools, spokeswoman Liz Margolis said. She said the school will open next fall with about 400 ninth-graders. Grade levels will be added over the subsequent three years until it becomes a full-fledged 9-12 school. In Macomb County's Chippewa Valley district, enrollment increased by 384 students last fall, but the trustees had to cut $4.7 million from its budget and delay the opening of the new Seneca Middle School and two ninth-grade centers until next fall. Seneca Middle School will cost $2.4 million to operate, while the ninth-grade centers will shift staff from its two high schools, Chippewa Valley spokeswoman Diane Blain said. "What was I thinking?" said Grace Caporuscio of Macomb Township, who voted in favor of a $168 million bond in the Chippewa Valley School District in 2004. "We built these lavish schools and now we can't afford to operate them." Caporuscio, like some residents in Howell and Ann Arbor, said she is frustrated with the mantra of blaming Lansing for the funding crisis. Some school finance experts agree that better fiscal management is needed. Frugality, planning needed Ryan Olson, director of educational policy for the Mackinac Center, a nonprofit think tank, said districts need to be more frugal by shopping for lower cost health benefits and contracting out noninstructional services. "It's not a funding crisis since the operating expenditures have more than doubled in Michigan schools since the 1970s and that's including inflationary increases. It comes down to management and getting results by controlling costs," Olson said. Another expert blamed poor planning on behalf of districts. "Districts that planned years ago for a new building may now not necessarily need it," said Gary Olson, director of the Senate Fiscal Agency. He said more than 400 of the state's 552 school districts reported declining enrollment this year. In 2002-03, roughly 1.714 million students were enrolled in Michigan schools. The official estimate for the 2008-09 school year is 1.628 million, an 86,000 student drop, Olson said. "We don't think it has much to do with people leaving the state, about 80 percent of this is declining birth rates," he said. However, Don Wotruba, director of Legislative Affairs for the Michigan Association of School Boards, said growth planning for school officials has become a difficult job with pupil count projections telling districts to expand while money coming from Lansing is reliant on economic factors. "The funding increases have been so limited and (operating new schools) is clearly becoming more of an issue. You can decide X amount of dollars are needed for building costs but can't control the operating costs. It becomes very difficult to operate a district with state funding the way it is and with fund balances dropping," Wotruba said. Steven Norton, a parent from the Ann Arbor district who is co-founder of Michigan Parents for Schools, an advocacy group to bring a voice to Lansing for a better public education funding system, said the system is broken. "What's frustrating is under the laws we have in this state, we can vote locally to build a school but we cannot vote locally for the money to hire new teachers or make the class sizes smaller," Norton said. Frozen funding hurts Over the past five years, school-aid funding has been frozen and in some instances, districts have taken midyear state aid cuts because state tax receipts did not meet expectations. Several have taken sweeping steps to keep schools operational. In Howell, officials have privatized custodial workers, day care workers and some administrative positions, saving about $1.5 million this year. The district must still chop about $1 million from next year's budget, in addition to the operating costs of $215,000 to $1.5 million, depending on the facilities plan the school board selects for next year. In Ann Arbor, the school district put a five-year 1-mill sinking fund on the ballot in 2004 along with the $205 million bond proposal, district spokeswoman Margolis said. The sinking fund allows for capital expenditures, such as buses, utility improvements and renovations. It also relieves the district's $182 million budget from making those purchases and freeing up money for operating expenses, such as hiring additional staff. A renewal will be needed to keep the third high school operating, Margolis said. The district, which receives $9,960 per student in state aid funding, lost 450 students over the past two years. Howell lost about 125 when enrollment was projected to increase by 25 this year. "We always made it very clear to the community that we would be coming back to voters for a renewal," Margolis said. Chippewa Valley School Board President Kenneth Pearl said budget planning has been a difficult process with the uncertainty in school funding from year to year, as employee contracts approved typically are three-year pacts and increasing retirement costs are billed by the state. "With one hand they give you money and with the other, the state takes away with costs they control," he said. Pearl said the school board is committed to opening the Seneca Middle School and two ninth-grade centers next year. "Even if we have to take the $2 million out of our fund balance, we're going to open them," he said. Howell seeks stability When Howell trustees meet Monday, their decision of what school building to keep open and what will close will not likely be popular, but board members are hoping to find a solution that will stabilize the district. "I just want to be able to put these kids in a stable situation where we can keep them for the next three years. It looks like the economy will be hanging low for a few more years and I don't want to do this every year," said Board Secretary Kim Schumaker. Howell Parent Jean Root said she would like the final outcome to be as least disruptive to the students as possible. "It's painful for the kids, it's painful for the community to go through this," Root said. Her youngest son, Troy, is at the Freshmen Campus this year. He won't know until Monday where he will be attending school next year.He could be at both schools in the coming three years. You can reach Valerie Olander at (517) 552-5503 or volander@detnews.com. |
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| al dente | Feb 9 2008, 09:31 PM Post #2 |
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Unbelievable. Talk about an incompetent BOE. It is amazing to me that the BOE's in Michigan think they can do business as usual, maintain the status quo, and Lansing will just keep sending more funding their way. Unless they prove they have reduced health care costs, outsourced non-teaching positions, etc... they should not get an dime extra. It is also amazing that Michigan has 552 school districts with 552 superintendents, 552 BOE's, 552 sets of cabinet members, etc... The governor has mentioned consolidation many times but puts no teeth into it. |
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| SamG | Feb 9 2008, 10:48 PM Post #3 |
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This article also mentions that over 400 districts reported that their enrollment was down. I found that interesting. |
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| Mrs.M | Feb 9 2008, 11:37 PM Post #4 |
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Veteran
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Just one explanation...Howell's drop in enrollment could have factors unbeknownst to outsiders that could account for their decline in enrollment, just as LPS could have factors unbeknowst to an outsider. And so too there could be a few districts with declining enrollment more than just due to the economy. Howell had the issue with the bus incident that was reported, rather not reported to the authorities last year. It also has been having major concerns from parents with the length on time on the buses, in excess of 1 hour. Recently, Howell experienced a student count increase of over 150 students, due to new housing construction. |
| I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be WRONG. | |
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| Sourapples | Feb 9 2008, 11:52 PM Post #5 |
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BE cautious also on who reports enrollment as "down". Districts often use that term if the do not get as many "new" students as they project for their budgets. Enrollment may actually have "increased", but it is "down" from what they expected. Merely a play on words based on budgetary projections. |
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| George | Feb 10 2008, 09:33 AM Post #6 |
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SamG, Please don't think that LPS enrollment is down just due to the economy. I know of 8 children that were moved to private school just this past school year because of the LI, this is just who I know, I'm just one person, in my small circle. So LPS needs to face facts that the LI accelerated the declining enrollments. <_< |
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