FeedsSchool committee hopes to avoid ‘crisis’
Tom Watkins, former superintendent of public instruction for the state, had this message for school districts:
“Change or die.”
Watkins may have made the address Monday night to teachers, staff members and parents in the Wayne-Westland Community School District, but he meant it as a warning for school districts across the state. He referred to the current funding crisis faced by districts throughout Michigan as a result of declining property values, a stagnant revenue stream and the long-term effects of Proposal A.
Watkins, now a consultant, said he predicted the crisis more than five years ago, when he was still in office.
“You could see the train coming,” he said. “Everything we had has changed and it’s not going to come back any time soon.”
He passed along his warning to members of the Wayne-Westland 21st Century Schools Citizens Committee Monday night, a group of about 100 residents and employees given the task to divert the crisis approaching the Wayne-Westland district. It was the first meeting for the group, which will eventually take a look at Wayne-Westland schools, enrollment trends and other data in order to come up with a recommendation to the school board on how to meet future challenges.
“If we don’t get together now and take care of all these issues, two years from now we’ll be dealing with a disaster,” said School Superintendent Greg Baracy.
Like other districts across the state, Wayne-Westland has been dealing with increasing costs and declining or stagnant revenue, according to Baracy. In the Wayne-Westland case, issues such as the state-mandated cost of funding retirements, along with teacher salaries, the costs of utilities and providing health benefits have opened the door for a major deficit situation, according to Gary Martin, deputy superintendent of administrative and business services.
He said those factors have whittled the districts undesignated fund balance from $23 million-where it peaked in 2003-down to about $2 million, which is where it’s forecast for the end of the 2009/2010 school year.
If things don’t change, he added, the district will face an $8 million budget deficit in 2010/2011.
District officials were told not to expect much money from the state, either.
“The money is just not there,” said Jeff Rahmberg of Rahmberg, Stover and Associates, the district lobbying firm.
This year, the state is forecasting a $1.3 billion deficit in the school aid fund. About $300 million of that will be made in cuts and the rest patched together with $1 billion in federal stimulus funds. That will only help the situation for one year, though.
The task force will look for efficiencies wherever possible, examining student enrollment, school boundaries and more in an attempt to ‘right size’ facilities and conserve costs.
“We’re looking at where we are today and where we hope to go,” said Baracy.
The first meeting was designed to be informational in nature, said Baracy. At the next one on July 21, the group will focus on the areas to study, guidelines and come up with a work plan. Then they will break down into different subcommittees to take on different aspects of the issue.
“We’re not alone in this; it’s a by-product of this treacherous economy we’re in,” said Baracy. “If we don’t do something to save ourselves, nobody else will save us. We’ve got to find a way out, ourselves.”
