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Dear Parents and Families / Guardians of Bay City Public
Schools,
Difficult decisions were implemented in January.
A $1.5 million reduction plan was put into place,
which included $400,000 in reductions resulting with the
layoff of 17 teachers at midyear.
Attached
is a two-sided page of information for your review.
One side lists 72 items reduced from the budget
over the past four school years, totaling $13.4 million
in reductions. During
this period, our state aid was frozen or reduced. The
other side details the recent reduction plan, which is
linked to the unanticipated loss of students—families
moving out of the community, declining birthrate in Bay
County and some students choosing other districts.
I often
receive questions about school funding, but most
especially throughout this past month as we have reduced
our budget. Toward helping each of us better understand
the challenges we face, I thought it might be helpful to
share these questions and answers with all parents.
Thank
you so very much for taking the time to review this
important information.
1)
How much money does the school district get to
operate and how does this compare to other districts?
Bay City Schools currently
receives $6,875 per student from the State of Michigan.
That is the minimum allowance from the State. Some
Districts receive as much as $15,000 per student and
many districts in Wayne and Oakland counties receive
between $8,000-$11,000. Closer to home, Essexville
receives $400 more for each student than Bay City does.
Midland receives $1,700 more per student than Bay City.
Because Midland has roughly the same number of students
enrolled as Bay City, the $1,700 more per student
translates to $17 million more each year that goes into
Midland’s budget—that’s $17 million more than Bay
City receives!
2)
What has happened in the past four years that
have caused reductions in the district budget?
There
are four major problems:
§
Freezes and mid-year
reductions in Funding from the State
§
A 66% increase in employee
health insurance costs
§
A 34% increase in required
funding for the State retirement system
§
A decline of 307 enrolled students,
resulting from a declining population, schools of
choice, and economic conditions in the community
3)
What about the Lottery money?
Doesn’t this help?
The lottery money provides about 6 cents out of every dollar spent for
schools—with the other 94 cents coming from sales tax,
property tax, and income tax. However, lottery money is not
added funding for schools; it is replacement funding.
Why? Because
the State gave schools lottery money while cutting its
contributions to schools in other places.
4)
What has caused this most recent round of
reductions?
The
mid-year reduction for $1.5 million that just occurred
was the direct result of the unexpected student
enrollment decline. This decline was not realized until
late September-early October when student counts were
completed. The loss of 200 students because of schools
of choice and poor economic conditions resulted in a
revenue decrease of $1.375 million.
Statewide, many districts, as well as the State
itself, are experiencing unexpected declines in student
population. The State of Michigan this year reported a
loss of 5,000 students—and projects to lose more than
8,000 students next year!
5)
What about the bond proposal?
What connection does the bond issue have to the
district’s financial condition?
The bond is directly connected. Without the funding a bond would
provide, the District will have to spend more dollars
from its regular school funds in future years. That
means far less for programs and services. However, the
bond by itself will not change the financial problems
(discussed in question 2) facing this district and many
districts through the state.
6)
What does the budget forecast for the 2006-07
school year look like?
The
budget for 2006-07 presents the biggest financial
challenge we have faced yet.
Among the issues are higher health insurance,
higher retirement costs, fewer students, new State high
school curriculum requirements, added requirements in
technology and maintenance, and the need to restore
teaching supplies. It is not likely that any future
State-funding increases will be sufficient to meet these
challenges. This all adds up to the need to restructure
and/or reduce the budget by a minimum of $5.5 million.
7)
How can I get more questions answered?
If
you have additional questions, there are several
options. Contact me at 671-8168 or email me at wierdac@bcschools.net.
You can also contact Mr. Doug Newcombe, the District’s
Finance Director, at
671-8112 or email him at newcombed@bcschools.net.
Also, copies of the District Budget and Audit are
posted on our website at www.bcschools.net.
Carolyn Wierda
Superintendent |
