Schools

Question 2 for School Board Candidates: What Are The Top 3 Issues?

Saline Patch asked the school board candidates 10 questions. We'll publish one of the questions along with the answers each day for 10 days.

There are four candidates competing for two seats on the Board of Education in the Nov. 8 election. They are incumbent David Friese, David Holden, Patti Tanner and David Zimmer. Trustees are paid $30 per board meeting and generally meet twice a month.

What are the top 3 issues facing the district and how should the district address them?

The number one issue we face is financial stability. The structural deficit must be resolved. The trend of spending more than we take in, selling assets, and draining the reserve fund below 2 percent needs to be reversed. All three collective bargaining agreements expire in 2012. The agreements need to reflect the current economic environment and contain flexibility with future cost certainty. We will be unable to provide a quality education to our young people unless we resolve this issue in 2012.

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The second issue is addressing the increased class sizes that are a direct result of an operating cost model that is broke. Increased class sizes are not fair to students nor teachers. We need to adjust to a desired student-teacher ratio at each of the three educational levels: 22-to-1 for elementary, 25-to-1 for middle school, and 28-to-1 at the high school level. We then staff accordingly and based on the operating budget revenue determine fair teacher compensation. If we are true to the educational mission we will pursue this path to ensure we provide our students with the best educational experience possible.

The third issue is generating additional revenue outside of traditional taxation jurisdictions. In the current environment asking parents and taxpayers to take on additional financial burdens is not feasible. We need to consider growing the Saline Education Foundation tenfold, reestablish a Saline Booster Club to leverage the entire community for athletic fund raising with the long term goal of making athletics self funded and off the operating budget, and marketing our Advanced Placement Courses via web cast to students across the state on a tuition basis.

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  1. The most important issue is maintaining the integrity of our schools. We need to investigate grants and new instructional models to keep our schools elite and preserve our excellent reputation.
  2. Due to the economy and state funding cuts, our budget is at issue. We need to spend the revenue we have more responsibly and more creatively. Every district in the state that is making difficult choices, but we need to think outside of the box to become more resourceful. Grants are available to us; let’s eagerly pursue them.
  3. Maintaining Facilities/Infrastructure. Providing a quality education requires that we maintain our facilities to make sure our learning environments are safe, secure and ready for students.  

The number one issue we face is financial stability. We must reset the financial model of the district. We must address the structural deficits that have been part of our operating plan since 2003. Our continuous practice of using our savings to fund expected operating expenses is now not an option. This has occurred even though our funding from the state has been the same or more for every year since 2003. As a case in point, Saline has received $400,000 more in funding from the state than last year, but we had to take money from our reserve to meet our short term operational needs.

The second issue we face is unacceptable class sizes in our district. We now have classes that are greater than 40 in our high school, more than 37 in our middle school and greater than 30 in fifth grade classes. This is unacceptable for the academic success of our students and the professional success of our many talented educators.

The third issue we face as a district has been the elimination of many essential support services and programs that has made Saline Schools a special and unique community. For example, we have reduced our paraprofessionals, literacy specialists, media center specialists to unacceptable levels.

Like all school districts in Michigan our number one issue is financial. When the state legislators and governor cut the foundation grant by $470 per pupil, it placed a great burden on this community. Now discussions are under way in Lansing to eliminate the personal property tax, which will further encumber our operations and potentially lead to an increase in property taxes. As this issue impacts the entire community, it is the responsibility of all to contact our legislators and voice displeasure over their potential actions. In the meantime we must learn to live within our means. There has been some fear mongering regarding the take over of the district by a financial manager, we are far removed from that possibility.

The second issue is to ensure that our schools continue to provide a safe and nurturing environment in which all students can maximize their potential not only in the classroom but in the wide array of extracurricular activities afforded to them. This is the responsibility of the entire board as policy makers.

The third issue that needs to be addressed is the continued maintenance of our facilities. The heating system at Liberty School dates to the 1960s, Pleasant Ridge has been in service for over 20 years and our bus fleet is the oldest in the county. As the intent of Proposal A was to provide operational funding the only logical way to address capital projects is through the bond process.

(Wednesday, we ask the candidates what needs to happen with the next teachers' contract.)


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