“Tough economic times.”
That’s how Dearborn Public Schools Superintendent Brian Whiston began his address to the School Board last night. Mr. Whiston spoke in depth about the current school budget crisis, proposed some solutions and quashed a few rumors while he was at it.
“If you listen to some, they will tell you that Dearborn Public Schools is a “rich and wealthy” district,” the Superintendent said. “We are not. In our district we have more than 11,000 students- that’s 62% -participating in the Free and Reduced Lunch program. The district has reduced spending by $30 million in the previous five years and has already cut $10.2 million this year. We have only $5 million in our fund balance...Independent auditors recommend any company this size have at least 10% to 15% fund balance.”
Whiston outlined a series of ground level cost-cutting measures the district either has implemented or plans to pursue based on the recent Plante & Moran audit. Teacher and administrative staff input was also considered. He cited a newly negotiated deal for natural gas that will save the district $500,000.
“We are also putting into place a district wide energy conservation program that has us dialing up in the summer and down in the winter, turning off appliances, and making a conscious effort to reduce utility costs,” he told the crowd. “We will continue to seek objective outside analysis of how we run our schools. This year we have planned for an independent review of our English Language Learners program and our Special Education program.”
Whiston went on to decry the budget hold-ups in Lansing that may cost the district millions. He warned that Dearborn can no longer wait for lawmakers, and must act sooner than later to address what could be a monumental budget shortfall if the state withholds $5 million that was projected to go to district coffers.
“Each day we wait puts us one day later in to the school year and the longer we wait to make cuts, the more cuts we need to make,” he said. “We must have a balanced budget plan in place by December 1st.”
The Superintendent also made a plea for structural change in the District. Not one-time measures that would alleviate budget pressures this year, but long-term solutions that would help ensure the continued fiscal health of the District. He outlined a number of concessions that had been made throughout the district by The Board of Education, the Cabinet, Secretaries, the Dearborn Schools Operating Engineers Association (DSOEA) and Mr. Whiston himself (note that teachers are not among that list).
Whiston lauded these groups for ‘protecting their fellow employees,’ and pledged there will be no layoffs among them. However, he called for other employee groups (teachers) to “negotiate a structural change in their contracts that would result in the retention of jobs. We continue to have discussions with our other employee groups in hopes of reaching similar agreements. The budget conversation has been going on for some time and is being discussed in our schools and in our community.”
Naturally, when there are talks of cuts, the rumors run rampant throughout the community so Whiston came right out and ran down a list of misinformation and suggestions that District executives were not doing their share of belt-tightening:
•The Superintendent, Cabinet members, and central office staff have not received a 10% pay increase.
•It has been said that administrators are taking a 5% cut and asking staff to take a 6% cut, this is not true. All employees
(including the Board, Superintendent, Cabinet, and all other employees) are being asked to take the same cuts: 6.3%, steps, insurance. ALL are being treated the same.
•Cell Phones cost the district $40,000. 80% is covered by an E-rate reimbursement. Total cost to district is $8,000.
•Eliminate busing (will lose students and thus not save any money).
•Eliminate sports (will lose students and thus not save any money) Cutting sports would save $1.3 million but if we lost 145 students we would lose $1.3 million and not help the budget.
•Cut Cabinet – we are in line for districts with 10,000 – 12,000, not to mention 18,444
•Cut administrators.
- In terms of administrative cost we are one of the lowest coming in at 79 out of 85 districts.
- In terms of money spent in the class room Dearborn is in the top, coming in at 15 out of 85 districts.
Whiston ended with a dark prediction of deep employee cuts-up to 300 layoffs are expected within the next 90 days.
“Eighty to eighty-five percent of the budget is personnel, so when massive cuts are made it will impact people. We are making cuts in programs, but that has a small impact. The plan that is being proposed tonight to the Board of Education will affect our non-instructional staff as soon as December 1 and our administrators and teachers on February 1.”
He left hope that if teachers accepted long-term concessions, there could be fewer layoffs as the budget gets hammered out over the next few weeks.
The budget crisis facing Dearborn Public Schools becomes more urgent with each passing day, as teacher jobs and student programs face difficult cuts. In an effort to provide the community with more information on current school funding and the overall budget situation, the district has asked the Parent, Teacher, Student Association (PTSA) to moderate three town hall meetings.
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