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COMMUNITY
FORUM ON EQUITY IN SCHOOL FUNDING
Monday,
April 21st, Positive People held a forum on the equity in funding issue at the LESA Building. There were about 25 people
in attendance, a majority of which were school administrators and board members. It was awesome that four of the five
school districts in Livingston County were represented! We want to thank the handful of parents that came out to attend
as well as the school representatives and media!
Mr. Scott Menzel, Superintendent of Livingston County Educational
Agency, presented on school funding and while originally slated to be geared towards parents, the issues discussed were
more geared towards those more familiar with this complicated issue. What was most apparant was the difficulty in getting
parents to be more aware of this issue and increase their participation through emails, letter writing or calls to legislators.
There was brainstorming at the end to explore more positive ways to get parents involved. Positive People will be creating
a flyer with important facts to share with the public to help bring this issue home to them on an emotional level. Connecting
budgetary problems that parents are concerned about with the inequity in funding provided by the State of Michigan is essential.
Positive People has also contacted each school district in the county to ask to present to their District PTO meetings in
May in order to share the help we need from PTO's to engage parents in fighting for fair education for our children.
Scott Menzel has created a web page on the LESA website where people can register for email updates on equity issues.
The page can be accessed through the LESA website and is under "Livingston Educational Grassroots Registration".
Please take a moment to register your email so that you can be part of the solution with us using the link below!
Click here to register for email updates from the Livingston Educational Grassroots Network
EQUITY IN FUNDING COMMUNITY
FORUM AT LESA ON APRIL 21ST
Positive People has organized a school funding community meeting
with Scott Menzel, Superintendent of Livingston Educational Services Agency on Monday, April 21st from 7 to 8 p.m. at
the LESA building, 1425 Grand River, Howell to help provide an easy way to learn about the issue and help unite Livingston
County. While unequality in school funding may sound like a dry issue, the districts in Livingston County are struggling
with making major cuts due to the low amount received per pupil. Are our children worth several thousand dollars less
than children in another county? This is a long term issue that can be best addressed by parents and educators together
from all districts in Livingston County. Please consider coming for one hour to learn how school funding works and what
you can do. How can parents and citizens affect this issue through letters, phone calls, meetings and emails?
We'll make it easy and tell you how! Please join us Monday, April 21st from 7 to 8 p.m. at the LESA building, 1425
Grand River, Howell. For more information, email us at contactus@positivepeopleforhps.com .
2 x FORMULA RESTORED TO ITS
ORIGINAL FORM -- GOOD NEWS FOR LOWER FUNDED DISTRICTS!
Good news for Howell Public School District and all schools in Livingston
County! The funding plan referred to as "2X" has been restored to its original form, no longer allowing for
higher funded districts to receive an additional $40 per pupil and reducing the amount given to lower funded districts!
See the article linked below explaining it, published on March 20th. We thank all of you who sent emails or letters
to your representatives. Positive People has organized a Equity in Funding
Community Forum at the LESA building on Monday, April 21st from 7 to 8 p.m. Our goal with the forum is
to give those interested in finding out more a brief and efficient way to learn. Scott Menzel, LESA Superintendent,
will give a brief presentation on school funding and the current 2X proposal that is up for approval still by the full Senate
and the House. We will have a question and answer period and then Positive People will speak about how to contact your
representative as well as what to say in your letters or emails. We hope to see you there and feel free to ask us any
questions you may have by emailing us at contactus@positivepeopleforhps.com .
Article published March 20th, 2008 SCHOOL FUNDING PLAN RESTORED by Dan Meisler Daily Press and Argus
HIGHER PAYMENTS TO RICHER DISTRICTS
APPROVED MARCH 11TH IN 2X FORMULA PROPOSAL!
Positive People has been focusing on asking all citizens to help
the issue of unequal funding and help get behind the 2 X Formula Proposal. That proposal received a blow when the higher
funded districts were able to get the Senate Appropriations Committee to approve that the richer districts get higher payments.
The group Citizens for the Equity in Funding is asking for a strong response from as many people as possible with a message
that all of our kids should be valued equally. Please write your representatives today and let us know if you are willing
to visit your representative in person in Lansing and we will help coordinate. Please click the link below for a 3/13/08
article from the Press and Argus on this recent change to the proposal and the danger it presents. Look soon for a community
meeting to learn more as well as learn how to be most effective in communicating.
Article published Mar 13, 2008 SCHOOL FUNDING BOOST HITS A SNAG by Dan Meisler Daily Press and Argus
EQUITY
MEETING REVEALS LOBBYISTS AGREE, PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS HAVE THE MOST CLOUT IN SWAYING LEGISLATORS RE: SCHOOL FUNDING! Co-Leader of Positive People, Carolyn Arking, was lucky enough to
be invited to attend a Citizens for Equity in Funding meeting on Tuesday, February 26th at the State Capital hosted by
State Representative Chris Ward's office. During the meeting, approximately 40 people were in attendance to
learn what needs to be done in the next few months to address the unfair and low funding our district and other districts
receive.
We first heard from Susan Grimes Munsell on the Background of Proposal A. Mrs. Munsell
was an author of Proposal A and was instrumental in getting it passed. We also heard from the Associate Director of
the House Fiscal Agency on how schools are currently funded (through a very complicated formula) and on the current
legislation referred to the 2X FORMULA which while not fixing the problem, is our best bet for improving funding for next
year.
The group also heard from several different lobbyists working to help equalize the funding. One
main point was legislators are not swayed to make this an important issue without hearing from parents and grandparents of
students affected. They are used to hearing from school officials and school boards. We need to rally a grassroots
effort pushing for the 2X FORMULA. This formula would allow for our school to get a $216 per pupil increase
the next fiscal year with higher funded districts receiving a $109 per pupil increase.
** We ask that you take a few
minutes to email your representatives (links included on our Quick Links page) to tell them how important this 2X FORMULA is personally
to your child. Here are some suggestions in writing your email:
1) Be factual in your representation
2)
Be courteous
3) Form a clear message
4) Include personal stories about how your child has been affected by lower funding
(cutting of favorite programs or classes, long bus rides, larger class size, etc.) did you used to live in
a higher funded district? Include that in your letter. There is a summary link below on this page to see
the difference between districts.
5) For more information look at the website from Traverse City link
on this page or look at the 2005 study conducted on Proposal A at http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/schoolaid.html . You may also get more information by emailing Mary Ann Cleary at mcleary@house.mi.gov or Bethany Wicksall at bwicksall@house.mi.gov .
Carolyn Arking has offered to testify as a parent at the hearing for
this proposal when it is scheduled and when we know a date, we will let everyone know. It is our understanding
that these are public hearings and we can hopefully organize as many people as possible to attend. Positive People really
believes in getting us all involved as a team to affect positive change in the school funding. We can do this together!
INTRODUCTION TO EQUITY IN FUNDING
Many
parents may not know that schools throughout Michigan are funded unequally. Some districts get a much higher
rate per pupil while districts like Howell can get up to several thousand dollars less per pupil to run our schools.
There is a group started in Traverse City called Citizens for Equity in Funding that has actively lobbied to make our legislators
aware of this discrepancy in funding and ask them to do something about it. Our district has met several times
with other districts being affected by the same issue to brainstorm on how to unite to encourage change. The website
for the Traverse City Citizens for Equity in Funding which explains the unfair discrepancy between districts is
www.citizensforequity.org .
Click here to view Howell's Foundation Allowance History and Revenue Per Pupil
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