The EGRPS Legislative Committee urges you to read the Legislative Alert sent by Ron Koehler from the Kent County Education Advocacy Group Grassroots. His Alert is asking us to contact Governor Granholm and Senator Jansen and tell him that the money cut from the School Aid Fund is not a "surplus" and should not be sent to the General Fund to fund everything in state government but education. Hands off education funds! Please find contact information next to this post.
Lucy Lafleur
lucylafleur@sbcglobal.net
From: Grassroots
Stop the transfer of School Aid Funds to the General Fund! At the urging of Governor Granholm, the House last week transferred School Aid Fund "surplus" to the general fund. These are not surplus dollars, but instead are funds that were cut from your local schools.
Senators are expected to vote next week on the transfer. We need to contact our senators and let them know this is unacceptable.
Background: Schools received a cut of $165 per student in this fiscal year. Late in the spring, unexpectedly high sales tax revenues boosted the balance in the School Aid Fund. Instead of returning those dollars to our schools and students, Gov. Granholm and the House said these revenues represented a "surplus" and plan to use those dollars to balance the state budget.
Transferring these dollars to the general fund defies the will of the people who passed Proposal A to stabilize school funding and represents a precedent that may be difficult to reverse in the future.
Your message should be simple: Tell the Governor and Sens. Jansen, Hardiman and Jelinek to stop the raid on the School Aid Fund. Our children deserve better.
Contact Information For more information, contact Ron Koehler at rkoehler001@comcast.net
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Welcome Back to School!!
2010/11 is going to prove to be a great educational opportunity for your EGRPS student/s but it can also be a great learning opportunity for you too! Our local media have been working hard all summer with in-depth articles about school funding and how to make it work in this changed economy that we are living in here in Michigan. I encourage you to take a serious look at these articles and look for comments in this space weekly over the school year.
Our plan for this school year:
- We plan to discuss and interpret school funding issues as they affect us in EGRPS and in the State of Michigan. We will review these issues with the EGRPS administration and school board and bring you the best information as it affects you and your student/s.
- We plan to bring you a Candidate Forum in October with the candidates for the House 86th District.
- We plan to off you an opportunity to meet with State Senator Mark Jansen who is both our Senator and a leader on the Senate Education Committee in Lansing.
What we are asking of you:
Watch for Legislative Committee updates in your building newsletter.
Please attend your PTA meetings in order to get updates from Superintendant Shubel, from the School Board and from your Legislative Committee Representative.
Please read the articles from the Grand Rapids Press about consolidation and the series by Michigan Radio on Michigan school funding. Educate yourself on the issues.
Watch this site for at least bi-weekly updates.
Chair EGRPS Legislative Committee
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Help Keep School Aid Dollars in the School Aid Budget. Write Senator Jansen and Representative Hildenbrand today! Ask that they pledge their commitment to fully funding SCHOOLS with SCHOOL AID DOLLARS.
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Friday, June 4, 2010
Letters to State Officials Regarding the School Aid Fund
According to recent Grand Rapids Press articles, the State of Michigan may have more money in the School Aid Fund than they had anticipated in January 2004. To our dismay, our State of Michigan Legislators, including Senator Mark Jansen, are considering taking money out of the School Aid Fund to pay for other items in the budget. Although we feel strongly that Community Colleges need to be funded (Senator Jansen suggests paying for Community Colleges with School Aid dollars), the School Aid Fund was approved by voters in 1994 under Proposal A for the purpose of funding K-12 schools. We need to ask our legislators to leave the School Aid Fund for K-12 schools and to fully fund it by June 30, 2010 so that our schools can get their business done without guessing, borrowing and having mid-year cuts next year.
Take a look at the letters below. Please consider pasting them into an email and sending them to our legislators. The addresses are in the next column. They do listen when they hear from us. We need to work together!! Thanks--Lucy Lafleur
Dear Senator Jansen--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Regards from an East Grand Rapids Voter,
Dear Representative Hildenbrand--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Regards from an East Grand Rapids Voter,
Take a look at the letters below. Please consider pasting them into an email and sending them to our legislators. The addresses are in the next column. They do listen when they hear from us. We need to work together!! Thanks--Lucy Lafleur
Dear Senator Jansen--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Regards from an East Grand Rapids Voter,
Dear Representative Hildenbrand--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Regards from an East Grand Rapids Voter,
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Notes on PTSA Advocacy Day 2010 with some stats and some letters
PTSA Advocacy Day in Lansing was very successful! Upon mulling over the most important ideas, I have come up with these:
I learned more about the State of Michigan Fiscal Agency May Revenue Conference which estimates that the School Aid Fund (SAF) has $300 million more in it at this time than had been anticipated in January of 2010. Does this mean we are in the clear? No! We are now struggling with legislators who are looking at the School Aid Fund and considering raiding it to pay for other state services.
Remember: The School Aid Fund receives money from several pots of money.
1. Sales Tax 42%
2. Income Tax 19%
3. 6 mills on all Property-State Property Tax 16%
4. Lottery 6%
5. Other taxes/Sin Taxes 10%
6. General Fund 15%
The general fund used to provide more funds to schools, but less has been going into the SAF from the general fund and the legislators are looking to raid the "surplus" of SAF to prop up the general fund.
We need to tell our legislators to leave the School Aid Fund alone and use it for K-12 education.
Hmmm... We learned today that the states in the US have the highest proportion of adults with a 4 year college degree have the highest per capita income and have higher personal income and sales taxes. Michigan ranks 37th in the proportion of college degrees, 39th in personal income and about the middle with tax burden. Should we settle for "middle of the road" in all of these categories?
We need to ask our legislators to expand the sales tax to services in order to fully fund our schools.
Our schools are burdened with guessing how much money they will receive from the State of Michigan each year. The school districts, including EGRPS, have to pass a balanced budget each June 30. The State of Michigan doesn't have to pass a budget until October 1st. The law recently changed and the school districts don't even receive money from the state for the new school year until October 20th. I couldn't run my household budget wondering just how much money I will get in 3 months.
We need to ask our legislators to make the passage of the School Aid Fund a priority and to fully fund it by June 30, 2010 so that our schools can get their business done without guessing, borrowing and having mid-year cuts.
Take a look at the letters below. Please consider pasting them into an email and sending them to our legislators. The addresses are in the next column. They do listen when they hear from us. We need to work together!! Thanks--Lucy Lafleur
Dear Senator Jansen--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Thank you,
Dear Representative Hildenbrand--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Thank you,
I learned more about the State of Michigan Fiscal Agency May Revenue Conference which estimates that the School Aid Fund (SAF) has $300 million more in it at this time than had been anticipated in January of 2010. Does this mean we are in the clear? No! We are now struggling with legislators who are looking at the School Aid Fund and considering raiding it to pay for other state services.
Remember: The School Aid Fund receives money from several pots of money.
1. Sales Tax 42%
2. Income Tax 19%
3. 6 mills on all Property-State Property Tax 16%
4. Lottery 6%
5. Other taxes/Sin Taxes 10%
6. General Fund 15%
The general fund used to provide more funds to schools, but less has been going into the SAF from the general fund and the legislators are looking to raid the "surplus" of SAF to prop up the general fund.
We need to tell our legislators to leave the School Aid Fund alone and use it for K-12 education.
Hmmm... We learned today that the states in the US have the highest proportion of adults with a 4 year college degree have the highest per capita income and have higher personal income and sales taxes. Michigan ranks 37th in the proportion of college degrees, 39th in personal income and about the middle with tax burden. Should we settle for "middle of the road" in all of these categories?
We need to ask our legislators to expand the sales tax to services in order to fully fund our schools.
Our schools are burdened with guessing how much money they will receive from the State of Michigan each year. The school districts, including EGRPS, have to pass a balanced budget each June 30. The State of Michigan doesn't have to pass a budget until October 1st. The law recently changed and the school districts don't even receive money from the state for the new school year until October 20th. I couldn't run my household budget wondering just how much money I will get in 3 months.
We need to ask our legislators to make the passage of the School Aid Fund a priority and to fully fund it by June 30, 2010 so that our schools can get their business done without guessing, borrowing and having mid-year cuts.
Take a look at the letters below. Please consider pasting them into an email and sending them to our legislators. The addresses are in the next column. They do listen when they hear from us. We need to work together!! Thanks--Lucy Lafleur
Dear Senator Jansen--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Thank you,
Dear Representative Hildenbrand--
I have learned that the School Aid Fund may have more money than anticipated in January 2010. While this is very good news for our schools, I have also learned that some unwise decisions are being considered in Lansing regarding the utilization of these funds for areas of the budget that do not have to do with schools. Please resist this and vote against the use of the School Aid fund for anything other than funding our K-12 public schools.
Thank you,
A Call to Action!!
I attended the EGRPS Board of Education Meeting on Monday, May 24, 2010. I was heartened to see so many in attendance. Here is a summary of the public comments made during the first 40 minutes of the meeting. There were 4 comments regarding the essential skills of Trent Wadsworth, the Auditorium manager who is being threatened with a slash of his position from full time to half time. There were five people who voiced concern over the impending loss of funding for the Youth Development program. In both cases either current students or recent graduates were among the commentators. The wrestling coach reported on the struggles the team has had and the plan for the team to decrease the costs involved. A parent commented that the team is looking to decrease the costs for the team by half and submitted a proposal. Two wrestlers voiced their concerns about eliminating the program. A comment was made concerning the loss of the Middle School counselor. A first grade paraprofessional commented on the essential services provided by these professionals, asking that the program not be eliminated. She submitted a report with statistics regarding the need for these services. A comment was made by a long term library volunteer on how difficult it will be to man the libraries with volunteers and how difficult it will be for the students who have received literature suggestions and research assistance by the paraprofessional in the library.
The layoffs which were proposed included: Kindergarten Teacher at Breton (.5 FTE), a full time High School Counselor, the (.6 FTE) Middle School Social Worker, the Breton Social Worker (.6 FTE) and the Health Teacher at the High School (.3 FTE). The proposals were approved by the Board, but the layoffs will only occur if necessary. Notification has to be made in the semester prior to the layoff according to the teacher's contract.
Mr. Kevin Phillips reported on the May Revenue conference in Lansing and how this will impact EGRPS. In January of each year, the State Fiscal Agency attempts to estimate how much money will be collected in taxes and whether this money will be enough to pay for all of the expenses in the State of Michigan budget that is passed the previous October 1st of each year. The January 2010 Estimation was very bleak and this is where the plan to cut $250 per pupil in funding K-12 education was derived from. This was not unexpected. Michigan is going through a severe downturn in the economy and the budget is no longer being propped up with federal stimulus dollars. When the May conference tallied the numbers, however, the money collected from the state was looking less bleak and that the School Aid Fund might have $300 million more than was anticipated in January. Much of this coming from $180 million in federal stimulus that is being carried over from last year. Mr. Phillips is reporting that many of the proposed cuts will not happen if the per pupil funding is not cut by as much as originally anticipated. That is, if the $300 million is actually used for K-12.
Mr. Phillips also reported on the Retirement Bill which was recently passed by the legislature. This incentive by the State of Michigan is to urge teachers with a combination of years of service and age to retire at a slightly higher rate, which will allow them to keep their benefits. Those who choose to stay working will have a mandatory 3% contribution of their salary to a State of Michigan fund to fund retiree health benefits. This change in the law will not benefit EGRPS a whole lot. EGRPS has been careful to offer retirement incentives in the past, so there may not be a large pool of retirees under this program. EGRPS will have some help from the state in implementing this program for the first year. In 2011-12 and 2012-13, the wage replacement will be gone and districts will have the higher retirement costs until the incentives are paid off in 5-6 years.
Lucy Lafleur
The layoffs which were proposed included: Kindergarten Teacher at Breton (.5 FTE), a full time High School Counselor, the (.6 FTE) Middle School Social Worker, the Breton Social Worker (.6 FTE) and the Health Teacher at the High School (.3 FTE). The proposals were approved by the Board, but the layoffs will only occur if necessary. Notification has to be made in the semester prior to the layoff according to the teacher's contract.
Mr. Kevin Phillips reported on the May Revenue conference in Lansing and how this will impact EGRPS. In January of each year, the State Fiscal Agency attempts to estimate how much money will be collected in taxes and whether this money will be enough to pay for all of the expenses in the State of Michigan budget that is passed the previous October 1st of each year. The January 2010 Estimation was very bleak and this is where the plan to cut $250 per pupil in funding K-12 education was derived from. This was not unexpected. Michigan is going through a severe downturn in the economy and the budget is no longer being propped up with federal stimulus dollars. When the May conference tallied the numbers, however, the money collected from the state was looking less bleak and that the School Aid Fund might have $300 million more than was anticipated in January. Much of this coming from $180 million in federal stimulus that is being carried over from last year. Mr. Phillips is reporting that many of the proposed cuts will not happen if the per pupil funding is not cut by as much as originally anticipated. That is, if the $300 million is actually used for K-12.
Mr. Phillips also reported on the Retirement Bill which was recently passed by the legislature. This incentive by the State of Michigan is to urge teachers with a combination of years of service and age to retire at a slightly higher rate, which will allow them to keep their benefits. Those who choose to stay working will have a mandatory 3% contribution of their salary to a State of Michigan fund to fund retiree health benefits. This change in the law will not benefit EGRPS a whole lot. EGRPS has been careful to offer retirement incentives in the past, so there may not be a large pool of retirees under this program. EGRPS will have some help from the state in implementing this program for the first year. In 2011-12 and 2012-13, the wage replacement will be gone and districts will have the higher retirement costs until the incentives are paid off in 5-6 years.
Lucy Lafleur
Monday, May 17, 2010
Advocacy Day in Lansing Tuesday, May 24, 2010
Another opportunity to roll up our sleeves next week. Please consider Advocacy Day. Email if you are interested. mailto:lucylafleur@sbcglobal.net.
http://mptsa.orbro.com/mailmerge/519/1273843507_MPTSA_Advocacy_Day_2010_Reg_Form2.pdf
Updated Schedule of Events:
8:00am: Continental Breakfast and Registration
9:00am: Welcome
Overview of School Funding
—Bernie Porn, Epic MRA
Panel Discussion on School Funding
—Donna Lutke, MEA
—Tom White, SOS
10:45am: How to Lobby the PTA Way; What Do We Want Our Members to Ask For?
—Kevin McLogan, MPTSA VP for Children’s Advocacy
—Debbie Squires, MPTSA Past President
11:30am: School Funding Discussion
—State Representative Terry Brown
—Liz Bauer, State Board of Education
Boxed Lunch
12:45pm: Move to Capitol to Meet with Legislators
Attendees should schedule appointments with their legislators in advance.
Appointments with House Members should be scheduled before 1:30!
REGISTER NOW!!!
Registration form is attached.
The Focus is School Funding!!!
Michigan PTSA
Advocacy Day
Tuesday, May 25
Radisson Hotel, Lansing
MPTSA Advocacy Day 2010 Reg Form2.pdf
http://mptsa.orbro.com/mailmerge/519/1273843507_MPTSA_Advocacy_Day_2010_Reg_Form2.pdf
Updated Schedule of Events:
8:00am: Continental Breakfast and Registration
9:00am: Welcome
Overview of School Funding
—Bernie Porn, Epic MRA
Panel Discussion on School Funding
—Donna Lutke, MEA
—Tom White, SOS
10:45am: How to Lobby the PTA Way; What Do We Want Our Members to Ask For?
—Kevin McLogan, MPTSA VP for Children’s Advocacy
—Debbie Squires, MPTSA Past President
11:30am: School Funding Discussion
—State Representative Terry Brown
—Liz Bauer, State Board of Education
Boxed Lunch
12:45pm: Move to Capitol to Meet with Legislators
Attendees should schedule appointments with their legislators in advance.
Appointments with House Members should be scheduled before 1:30!
REGISTER NOW!!!
Registration form is attached.
Michigan Parent Teacher Student Association
3300 Washtenaw Avenue, Suite 220, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-4294
Phone: 734-975-9500 - Fax: 734-677-2407
Web site: www.michiganptsa.org
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