Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Appropriations K-12 Subcommittee Hearing Tomorrow in Lansing

BREAKING NEWS! CALL TO ACTION!


Appropriations K-12 Subcommittee Hearing Tomorrow in Lansing

Keep the pressure on!



Democratic members of the K-12 School Aid Subcommittee have pushed to make sure that even when there was resistance to allowing public testimony on the potential cuts to schools, citizens have a chance to speak their mind. While we've heard from many concerned administrators, superintendents, educators, parents, students, school advocates, we need to make sure every single person has a chance to tell their story. I want to personally thank each and every person who has taken time from their lives to drive to Lansing and advocate for our state's children. I also want to express my regrets at how, every week, the Appropriations K-12 Subcommittee has consistently "ran out of time" to allow every voice to be heard.



We've just been notified this morning the K-12 Subcommittee has called an additional meeting to hear additional public testimony tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 30 at 2pm

Capitol Building, Room 352 (House Appropriations Room)

Lansing, Michigan



Due to the short notice of this meeting I am counting on your assistance to spread the word to other advocates. Please forward this message to your contacts, as this is an important effort in taking a stand against these unnecessary cuts. I encourage you to please forward this invitation to your school contacts, be they officials, administrators, teachers, parents, students, PTA members, coaches, club advisors.



The budget proposed by Governor Snyder will devastate our schools:

· $700 to $1000 per pupil reductions

· Raids the School Aid Fund for K-12 to cover up Higher Education/Community Colleges cuts

· The potential for further ballooning of class sizes, outdated textbooks and technology, elimination of extracurricular activities and slashing of essential transportation services.

· Raids the School Aid Fund for K-12 to cover up Higher Education/Community Colleges cuts



Cutting education this deep will hurt our children's ability to get into college or compete for good-paying jobs. It will rob our state of the highly qualified workforce needed to attract job providers to Michigan. It will devastate Michigan's economic recovery. We can't allow the budget to be balanced on the backs of our children.



There is a new website at www.fightschoolcuts.com that contains an interactive map to look up any school district in Michigan and see how these cuts impact your community. You can also sign the online petition to oppose Governor Snyder's plan.



Your involvement will provide REAL feedback in the following ways:

· Acknowledging ongoing cost-saving measures already occurring

· Providing perspective from local school community members that will be impacted

· Speaking to the changes that SHOULD be happening instead of "just cutting" budgets



If you are able to attend and have any questions or concerns, please contact my office at (888) DIST-027 toll free. If you are unable to attend but wish to submit your written testimony, please email your concerns to Ellenlipton@house.mi.gov .



Committee 101 Basics:

Arrive early, testimony is on a first come first serve basis

Fill out a committee card to let them know you would like to testify

A written copy of your testimony is preferred, but not required, in addition to your public comments. Please bring 15 copies of your testimony.



Before you leave please check the Committee schedule to assure no last minute changes have been made at:

http://www.house.mi.gov/publiccommitteeschedule/



You may use these helpful links to locate parking in downtown Lansing: http://housenet.mihouse.mi.gov/NewMemberPages/images/DowntownLansingMap.gif

http://housenet.mihouse.mi.gov/NewMemberPages/PDFs/downtown_map.pdf

Monday, March 28, 2011

Let's Meet Rep Lyons on April 11 in Lowell!

State Representative Lisa Lyons is meeting with constituents at a restaurant on Monday, April 11, 2011 between 3-4:30pm.  The restaurant is Keisers Kitchen, 700 East Main Street, Lowell, MI 49331.  I am thinking we need to have a field trip to let our Representative know how we feel about the propsoed budget cuts.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

From Michigan PTSA Advocacy Chair, Kevin McLogan

March, 25, 2011


Again, I am calling on all of the advocates for education across the state to rise up and take action!

If you have done so already, THANKYOU! But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take another crack at it. If not, here is a great opportunity for you to make a difference.

Call your representatives and senators and let them know that raiding the K-12 School Aid Fund for purposes other than K-12 public education and the slashing of support for our children is unacceptable and will not be tolerated!

Go to http://capwiz.com/npta2/mi/home/ where I have created a simple form that will help you craft an email that you can personalize with your own story about what these cuts mean to you. The Action Alert will remain up until April 15th, but I need you to act now!

This time, I need you to include some examples of how these proposed cuts will impact your children and your community. Including your own personal story is very powerful. If you are at a loss as to what this means, talk to your School Board Trustees, Superintendents and Principals for some ideas about what will be missing from our children's experience if these cuts come to pass.

I am counting on YOU to take action TODAY! The future of our schools, children and communities will be badly impacted if these cuts are allowed to take place.

As always,
Happy Advocating!
Kevin McLogan
Vice President for Children’s Advocacy
248-259-3593
kevinmclogan@yahoo.com



P.S. — Don't forget to save the date for Advocacy Day – Thursday May 12th at the Radisson in Lansing ! I am looking forward to an excellent Advocacy Day, and hope that YOU will make a commitment to attend!

Next Grassroots/Friends of Kent County Meeting

Reminder:The next Friends of Kent County Schools Grassroots Meeting


The March 24th meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 20, 2011



Kent ISD - Educational Center
from 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Contact Us
email: friendsofkentcounty@gmail.com
phone: 616.240.2256

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Without your call to Lansing, you approve the cuts!!

855-596-6786 toll free House Rep Lisa Lyons  517-373-0797 not toll free State Senator Mark Jansen

On top of writing your emails, signing the petitions, please call our legislators and let them know that you know about the massive cuts that are looming in the EGRPS if Governor Snyder's proposed cuts go through.  We have a reliable source in Lansing that said that they never heard from parents during the last round of cuts and figured that they were giving approval of the cuts.  Let's get those phones ringing!!

Please call and tell them that your child has benefitted from the media centers which are slated to close.  Schools with no libraries?  Let them know that your child benefitted from Reading Recovery.  My child used those services and it benefitted him that school year and ever since.  Let them know that your child is in the swim program and that the whole community will be poorer for closing the high school pool.  Tell your story based on why you came to this community for the schools.  Let them know if you were recruited to Grand Rapids for a job and that you settled into a community based on the quality of the school district.  Make the economic argument.  Just call!

Our Strategy

I am outlining the strategy that the EGRPS PTSA Legislative Commitee is using in activating our community to address the massive cuts proposed in Governor Snyder's budget.

1.  We are asking all parents and community members in East Grand Rapids to read the letters that the EGRPS School Board and Administration have written.  There are two letters.  One is to the community outlining the general history of the funding problem, the limitations placed upon the district by Proposal A and the state funding of public education and the call to speak to our legislators.  The second letter is the very detailed letter to the legislators which outlines our district's case regarding past cuts and future cuts under this plan.

2.  We are asking for three forms of action from all parents and community members in East Grand Rapids.  First, email our legislators.  Example letters are on this blog below.  Second, call our legislators.  (Toll free)855-596-6786 House Rep Lisa Posthumus Lyons, 517-373-0797 State Senator Mark Jansen.  Let the legislators know that your child benefitted from the swimming programs here and that you can't stand the idea of the pool closing.  Let them know that the theater program benefits your child academically, socially and spiritually and the closing of the PAC or defunding the director of the PAC will be devastating.  Let them know if your child benefitted from Reading Recovery and Spanish in elementary school.

Third, sign onto the petitions that are circulating at all school events.

3.  We are meeting with other Kent County school districts through the Grassroots/Friends of Kent County Schools in order to encourage other school districts to take a similiar action in setting out what the cuts will do to their district and call their parents to action.

4.  We are asking anyone who has contact with any other state legislator through personal contact or history of donations to contact him or her and inform that person about our dire situation in public education. 

5.  Write a letter to the editor of the Grand Rapids Press stating what programs you see on the chopping block and let everyone know that you will not stand for it.  If your child has benefitted from Reading Recovery or you know your elelmentary child benefittted from the para-pros, please speak about it.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Sample Letters for our State Representative and Senator

mailto:LisaLyons@house.mi.gov
Dear Ms. Lyons,




I found out today that the School Aid Fund is now responsible for community colleges and universities as well as public K-12 education. While I am an advocate for education, I believe that this transfer of responsibility ignores the intention of the voters who passed Proposal A in 1994 to secure funding for K-12 education. I found out that with this transfer, public K-12 education will receive a $300 million cut which translates into a $300 per student cut. This is unacceptable. The Governor asked for shared sacrifice. With the number of cuts this year and last, public education has taken more than its share of cuts and sacrifice. Please use your position as a member of the State House representing me and save the integrity of K-12 public education.

Sincerely,


http://www.senate.michigan.gov/gop/senators/contact.asp?District=28
 
Dear Senator Jansen,


I found out today that the School Aid Fund is now responsible for community colleges and universities as well as public K-12 education. While I am an advocate for education, I believe that this transfer of responsibility ignores the intention of the voters who passed Proposal A in 1994 to secure funding for K-12 education. I found out that with this transfer, public K-12 education will receive a $300 million cut which translates into a $300 per student cut. This is unacceptable. The Governor asked for shared sacrifice. With the number of cuts this year and last, public education has taken more than its share of cuts. Please use your position as a member of the State House representing me and save the integrity of K-12 public education.

Sincerely,

Legislative Action Alert

LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT


EGR PTSA LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

URGENT!!!!!

The Problem: The public schools learned last week that our budget for next year will be cut by $2,000,000. Considering last years cuts (which we hoped would be restored) and the new cuts, EGR will receive $400 less per child. This translated into close to $2,000,000 in cuts that will have to be made. This is in addition to the $3,500,000 in cuts we have already made the last 5 years. The new cuts could impact all support programs, foreign language, and anything extracurricular in our district. It will also involve elimination of teachers. The face of public education will change dramatically.

The History: Schools in Michigan are funded through Proposal A, a Constitutional ballot proposal that was passed in 1994. This fund pools all property tax dollars, sales tax dollars, and lottery funds into a “pot” called the School Aid Fund. Since 1994, that pot is then divided up among students in the state. In the past 7 years, with declining property and sales tax revenues, the fund has significantly decreased. Despite this decrease, our school district has made adjustments by asking teachers/staff to contribute more and by making significant cuts to very successful programs. So far, we have protected the majority of students and kept the cuts away from the classroom. Our teachers have had to do more with less. We have indeed “shared in the sacrifice” just by how schools are funded. Proposition A does not allow us to ask you, the citizens of EGR, for more money to operate our schools. Our hands are tied completely by the funding the State tells us we get each year.

The Budget: We were relieved to find out that the pot of money for schools was stabilizing. The schools have lived through tremendous hardship the last several years. It was a huge relief when we found out that the School Aid Fund had a surplus and that we no longer would have to cut and cut more. It was beyond shocking to find out that the voter-approved Proposition A “pot of money” for K-12 education is now going to include Community College and Higher Education Funding. With this addition, our funding is cut DRAMATICALLY almost overnight. This additionally does not take into account the state-mandated retirement contribution rate, which under the Governor’s proposal, jumps MASSIVELY. Taking that into account, the cuts come out to more like $700 per student.

The Call to Action: This is a pivotal moment in the history of public education in our state. Either we are committed to educating our children and ensuring a strong economic future for our State, or we are headed the way of states in other parts of the country that long ago abandoned public education. EGR has a long and proud history of excellence. It will be extraordinarily difficult to continue that with the proposed budget impact. We need ALL HANDS ON DECK.

1. Every parent should contact our State Representative and Senator.

2. The School Board is sending a letter to all important elected officials in Lansing. We will be asking parents and the community at large for signatures to support this letter. The letter makes several recommendations.  We support the goal of taking higher ed out of the School Aid Fund.  We support the goal of retirement reform.  We support the goal of properly funding public schools.

Thank you for your time and investment in our children. Contact your building representative if you need further help or have any questions. Check out www.egrpseducationadvocates.blogspot.com for more (and ongoing) information as well as sample letters. We are also on Facebook (EGR Legislative Committee).



Your PTSA Legislative Committee



Building Representatives:

Lucy LaFleur (Chair), Middle School

Anne Grobel, Breton Elementary

Elizabeth Lykins, Wealthy Elementary

Ann Pater-Beeny, Lakeside Elementary

David Bair, High School





Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons

S-1190 House Office Building

PO Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909

Toll Free 855.596.6786

LisaLyons@house.mi.gov



Senator Mark Jansen

S-310 Capitol Building

PO Box 30036

Lansing, MI 48909

517.373.0797

Email Link:

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/ima_form.asp?name=COMMENT28&form_path=e:/webforms/rep

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Maybe Most Adults are not for Cutting K-12 Schools

http://www.freep.com/article/20110304/NEWS15/103040445/Poll-Michigan-voters-cool-Gov-Snyder-K-12-cut?odyssey=tab

topnews
text
FRONTPAGE

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Now is the Time to Get Upset

Hello from Your PTA Legislative Committee--


The time is now to contact your legislators regarding the governor's proposed budget. At the Middle School PTA Meeting on Tuesday, February 22, 2011, both Dr. Shubel and School Board President Brian Ellis stated that now is the time to get upset. They report developing a plan to address this extraordinary cut in funding, but their plan will fail if we, as parents, do not take action.

The current cut to public education includes this year's $170 per student cut which will not be replaced, a $300 cut for next school year which combined will be a $470 cut per student from last year's level. Not included in this cut is the rising cost of the retirement rate which is the percentage of every salary dollar that is spent on today's teachers which goes to retirees. This year, the rate jumped to over 20% and will be 24% next year which amounts to another several hundred dollar cut per child. EGRPS has no control over the retirement rate.

In order for the school district to cope with these cuts, drastic cuts to our high achieving school district will have to be made. We will not be able to keep our programs which allow our children to excel. This is a dire time.

Please log onto www.egrpseducationadvocates.blogspot.com to find templates for contacting the Governor Snyder, our new State House Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons and our State Senator Mark Jansen.

Thank you for your concern and your time.

Lucy Lafleur, Chair EGRPS Legislative Committee

An Open Letter from Elizabeth Lykins, Wealthy Schools PTSA Leg. Committee Liaison

Friends: Many of you have heard about the proposed budget cuts to our schools. We are looking at a cut of $470 per child in EGR (others of you in larger districts are looking at even larger cuts). This translates to about $2,000,000 in additional cuts to EGR. EGR has already cut over $3,000,000 from its budget the last 8 years (1.5 million just last year of a 28 million dollar budget). Many of you know this since some excellent programs and staff were cut that directly impacted your child’s education. That said, we are lean and have still remained very competitive on a statewide and national level. But I can assure you, we will not remain this way with the draconian cuts being proposed. There is simply no way to preserve our standards of excellence without sacrificing, severely, the education our kids will receive in the classroom. Teachers will have to be let go. Class sizes will get larger---much larger (Detroit Public Schools is predicting 60 children to a class due to the impact on their budget).


The problems are structural: In 1994, we passed Proposition A, which significantly lowered our property taxes but also hampered our ability to pass local millages for our schools. Thus, since 1994, your property taxes, some sales tax dollars, and some lottery funds have gone into a fund in Lansing which is then divided up among all the students in the state. Since our education dollars are tied to the value of our homes and sales tax (both which have declined significantly over the last decade), the schools in Michigan have been in cutting mode for many years. You have not paid any additional taxes for your local schools since 1994 (unless tied to a millage for capital---ie buildings). The only increases have been to your property taxes---and for most of us, those have gone down. The school districts have done more with less and been incredibly fiscally responsible. Those of us sitting in on budget meetings and watching from the inside know how hard our teachers and administration have worked to make this happen. The cuts cannot continue. It will devastate public education as we know it.

This is a call to action for all of you. This is your wake-up call if you have not been paying attention to this issue. This is not just someone else’s problem. It is every parent of a public school child’s problem. In fact, it should be everyone’s problem since public education is an important component of a thriving democracy and a thriving economy. Just when we all have heard over and over again that education is the ticket to the future and our only way of competing in a global economy, it is being severely cut. Not just cut---but decimated. I honestly shudder to think of the decisions that will have to be made after years and years of cuts cuts cuts. There is nothing left to cut.

I am not prepared to concede on this; it is far too important. Michigan has a proud history of excellence in public education. Please join me in sending a message to our elected leaders that we would like to keep it that way. We have a small window of time. If you do not act, then don’t complain later.

Things you can do:


1. Join the EGR Legislative Committee Facebook Group so you can receive regular updates on this critical issue.


2. Check out our EGR Legislative Committee blog for updates.

http://egrpseducationadvocates.blogspot.com/

3. Write or email your State Representative and State Senator: Tell them that they campaigned on the promise that education is important but that this proposed budget sends the opposite message. Tell them that you will hold them accountable. Tell them that the funding levels proposed by the Governor are wholly inadequate and will decimate our schools at a time when we need them to be competitive with the rest of the world (and the rest of the world is investing heavily in education). Please do this. Everyone thinks “someone else will do it” but we all need to take a minute and do this! Even if you just need to call and leave a voicemail, please do so. Our electeds have got to hear from you.

State Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons

lisalyons@house.mi.govmailto:lisalyons@house.mi.gov

Mailing Address: PO Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909
Toll Free Phone: 855.596.6786


State Senator Mark Jansen
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/ima_form.asp?name=COMMENT28&form_path=e:/webforms/rep
Mailing Address: PO Box 30036, Lansing, MI 48909-7536

Phone: 517.373.0797

Other area reps and senators for those of you live outside East Grand Rapids:
http://www.house.michigan.gov/replist.asp
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/members/alphamemberlist.htm

Sample letters for those of you who want some guidance:

Dear Ms. Lyons,

I found out today that the School Aid Fund is now responsible for community colleges and universities as well as public K-12 education. While I am an advocate for education, I believe that this transfer of responsibility ignores the intention of the voters who passed Proposal A in 1994 to secure funding for K-12 education. I found out that with this transfer, public K-12 education will receive a $300 million cut which translates into a $300 per student cut. This is unacceptable. The Governor asked for shared sacrifice. With the number of cuts this year and last, public education has taken more than its share of cuts and sacrifice. Please use your position as a member of the State House representing me and save the integrity of K-12 public education.


Sincerely,

Dear Senator Jansen,

I found out today that the School Aid Fund is now responsible for community colleges and universities as well as public K-12 education. While I am an advocate for education, I believe that this transfer of responsibility ignores the intention of the voters who passed Proposal A in 1994 to secure funding for K-12 education. I found out that with this transfer, public K-12 education will receive a $300 million cut which translates into a $300 per student cut. This is unacceptable. The Governor asked for shared sacrifice. With the number of cuts this year and last, public education has taken more than its share of cuts. Please use your position as a member of the State House representing me and save the integrity of K-12 public education.

Sincerely,


Thanks so much for your time and feel free to contact me if you have any questions related to funding.