One Possible Solution for School Budget Problems

In my last blog I pointed out some serious problems that schools are facing with their budgets. These problems are so serious that hundreds of our communities in Michigan will face severe cuts to educational programs. The schools of 2009 may not resemble the schools that survive in the next couple of years.

I have read hundreds of articles about school budget problems because I want the very best schools for our children. Let's face the fact that Bill Gates is not going to give Michigan a pot of gold to solve this problem. Will our state legislature increase taxes to dramatically impact our schools? No, this will not happen unless our schools are under danger of collapsing completely and any additional funding will only bring schools up to a survivable level.

I do have a suggestion but the best it can be is a partial solution. I have studied a few school budgets to get an idea of where school money goes. About 80% of a school budget goes to salaries. About 10% goes to busing, 5% to meals, and 5 to 6% goes to athletics. When faced with budget woes most school superintendents make an across the board cut to almost all the budget items. The result of this is to water down the programs. So class sizes get larger, salaries are cut, meals get smaller or poorer quality, and buses travel fewer routes. No programs ever get better and quality continues to fall.

My solution is to take everything out of the general budget except for education. The basic per pupil funding should only go to pay for what happens in the classroom and for administration, and school buildings. Superintendents would only be concerned with the educational programs and how to improve them.

I would have athletics, meals, and transportation be paid for by local milages. Let the community decide if they want athletics. If they do then the sky is the limit. I remember about 20 years ago a school system north of Bay City had a milage vote. This was before Proposal A. One proposal was to fund education and the other proposal was to fund athletics. The education proposal was voted down but athletics passed by a wide margin. Perhaps the community decides that their students should be car pooled or they need new buses. Maybe all the children brown bag their lunches.

I say protect education. Some say the "Golden Age" of public education has come and gone. I say this "Golden Age" is just over the horizon. Wouldn't it be great if every Michigan student had access to the best schools, with clean sparkling rooms, oodles of classroom supplies, and teachers who had adequate salaries to provide for their families?