Update 3/19/09
--Anyone who follows the local news in Livingston County cannot avoid the reality that all the schools
in this area are severely hurting financially-- closing buildings and cutting services, staff and programs.
Howell is no exception with concerns about potential future budget cuts. With Federal stimulus money
coming to Michigan, there are debates on how to most effectively use it to help education. Here is a link to the
Michigan Association of School Boards website giving information and encouraging action to help keep our funding at current
levels.
Click here to see what MASB is saying and get an update! http://capwiz.com/masb/issues/alert/?alertid=12833316
Update 12/2/08
- The State of Michigan is facing a shortage of between $450 million to $1 billion and therefore is
considering taking back money from the schools. This could be as much as $70 per pupil per Business and Finance Superintendent
for HPS Rick Terres. Unfortunately, allotting money to the schools to base their budget on and then taking
back money is not new in Michigan. There are many new representatives that will be taking office in January and look
here in January for information on how to contact them to let them know the need to address school funding. LESA Superintendent Scott Menzel has also shared a website where you can get regular updates on this issue:
http://capwiz.com/masb/home/ .
Equity for 2008-2009 -- We Must
Continue to Fight for
Fair Funding! The 2008-2009 school year is here and the issue of Equity
in Funding is felt even more then ever in Livingston County. Brighton schools continue to face a $3 million deficit,
while the Pinkney, Fowlerville and Howell districts have had to close or suspend the use of a school building.
Overall we are all facing continued difficulties in affording the basics for our children's education. Our schools
struggle to continue to provide quality education with less and less money from the state and no increase in compensation
for rising costs (such as fuel and utilities). Please watch our website for information about
upcoming candidate forums and opportunities to let our legislators know that school funding is an important issue
that must be addressed at the state level. We will continue to experience cuts each year that become more and more painful,
affecting our children more and more directly. Also, please make sure to go to the LESA website to sign up for email
updates on the equity issue from our LESA Superintendent Scott Menzel. It is called the Grassroots Network and helps
to unite educators, administration and parents in making Lansing aware of the need to address the school funding issue in
Michigan. Grassroots Network Registration for Equity Updates.
This year is an especially important year as it is an election year and we need to make candidates aware
that we will not rest until our schools get adequate funding. Listed here are the web addresses for the candidates running
for the two open state representative seats in Livingston County. 66th State House District
Donna Anderson - Democrat - donna4house.com Bill
Rogers - Republican - electbillrogers.com 47th State House District
Cindy Denby - Republican - cindydenby.com Philip
Johnson - US Taxpayer Party - constitutionpartymi.net/cpmi/Patriot/Johnson/ Scott Lucas
- Democrat - website not available
We are including below information on what our current
per pupil amount is for this school year in Howell as well as the other schools in our county. We worked hard to get
the 2 x formula passed and we were successful. Our hope was a much larger dollar amount but it is certainly an acknowledgement
from Lansing that they did pass the 2 x formula. This basically allowed for the higher funded districts to get approximately
a .5% to .6% increase per pupil while the lower funded districts got a 1.5% or 1.6% increase (2 x the amount).
The formula is actually quite complicated but basically districts in Livingston County received a $108 to $112 increase over
the base rate per pupil while higher funded districts received half that amount. Also included is the funding provided to other schools in Michigan to show the difference and demonstrate how we
are given so much less funding then approximately 53 other districts in Michigan. Ironically, it would not take us making
as much as other districts earn to provide equal education, it would take less then $1000 per pupil while many districts get
$2000 to $4000 more per student then Howell.
| District/County
| Funding Yr '08 | Funding Yr '09 | | Howell -
Livingston | $7204 per pupil | $7316 per pupil | | Brighton - Livingston | $7357
| $7465 | | Fowlerville - Livingston | $7204 | $7316 | | Hartland -
Livingston | $7317 | $7426 | | Pinckney - Livingston | $7204 | $7316
| | Waverly - Ingham | $9092 | $9148 | | Whitefish Twp-Chippewa | $11,205 | $11,261 | | Birmingham-Oakland | $12,310
| $12,366 | | Bloomfield Hlls-Oakland | $12,387 | $12,446 | | | | | Source:
The Detroit News | | |
|
