School expenses increase while funding is decreasing

Published 6:27 am Friday, November 14, 2008

By Staff
Next year's state school funding bill won't be enough to cover increasing expenses at Brandywine and Niles community schools, though school officials said no teaching jobs are expected to be cut.
Niles Superintendent Doug Law said the funding increases won't adequately keep up with increased energy costs and employee health insurance, and still allow money to be put toward new textbooks or better technology in the classroom. This creates challenges for school officials who have to choose where the money is spent, Law said.
"The school board's job is to do everything they can to try and prevent this from taking away from classroom instruction," Law said. "We have already tried to save money by buying out our most expensive teachers so that they can be replaced, and privatizing transportation."
The state budget increase signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Aug. 7 purposes $13.4 billion to be spent on public schools, according to the Office of the Budget.
An additional $56 to $112 increase in funding per pupil was also purposed to reach schools throughout the state.
School administrators expect to receive the full $112 per pupil increase, but don't think money will ever reach the classrooms.
"It's not enough of an increase to cover an increase in supplies, and I think this is hurting the school district," Brandywine Director of Finance Sue Furney said. "Ninety-five percent of the school districts in Michigan do not get enough increase to cover the increase of their expenses in a year, so they have to continue to decrease other things to cover that downfall."
Granholm also purposed the small high school initiative, which will put $15 million of the total fund into replacing large high schools with smaller, more personal schools that will help prevent students with low academic achievement from dropping out.
Brandywine Superintendent John Jarpe said funding for the small school initiative won't reach area schools. Granholm plans to target large districts and replace them with smaller more relevant schools, and Brandywine doesn't qualify since it is already a small school.
"The small high school initiative is trying to get large high schools more connected to their students so they're not lost in the big schools," Jarpe said.
Brandywine teacher Ruth Kittleson said that not getting this additional funding will prevent the schools from being able to gain new resources, such as LCD projectors and new textbooks. Instead, teachers will have to use their own money to provide materials in the classroom, Kittleson said.
However, administrators from both schools said that if they don't receive the full amount per pupil, there will be no immediate job cuts because they have been able to balance their funds the past few years.
Kittleson agreed that changes in staff aren't needed at this time.
"Brandywine is almost at the bare bones of teaching staff," Kittleson said. "Class sizes are on a slow rise, but not enough to warrant additional staff."
An additional $10 million will be funded by the state to allow more children access to quality pre-school programs. School officials from both Niles and Brandywine said that this is one area that will benefit from the budget increase.
"I think any investments in pre-school are one of the best investments we can make," Law said. "Research has shown that quality early childhood education programs are a lot better than a remedial program once they get into high school."
Jan Gordon, parent of a Niles High School senior, said she certainly hopes funds for pre-school programs will be seen in the schools to give students the good start that they need.
Granholm also wants to put funding into more vigorous curriculums that prepare students for jobs after high school, but Brandywine school officials feel like there's more that needs to be considered.
"You can have an awesome curriculum, but you might not have a motivating and interesting instructor, and that's the key to keeping students engaged in learning," Jarpe said.