Comments on: AAPS Budget Would Cut Positions, Add Fees

By: schoolsmuse

schoolsmuse — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 19:00:07 +0000

Regarding the above question about special education–most of the income and expenses that are outside of the general fund are excluded from the current budget analyses. This includes special education because most of the costs are borne from federal or state funding. And, for instance, last night at the budget presentation, I was told that although most of the middle schools will lose .5 FTE of a counselor, that will not be the case at Scarlett, because Scarlett MS gets Title 1 funding, which is federal (I think) and school by school. That doesn’t show up in the general fund budget because they are not general fund monies. You can find out more at tonight’s meeting at the Little Theater at Huron High School, 6:30 p.m.

By: Christine Stead

Christine Stead — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:46:58 +0000

I wanted to thank The Chronicle, and in particular, Jen Coffman for excellent reporting coverage. Your coverage and organization continues to do this community a huge service. This meeting was particularly challenging, due to its length, and yet, the quality of coverage is here to the very end of the meeting. I will continue to refer folks to this site for a thorough review.

With great appreciation,

Christine Stead

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:16:02 +0000

I don’t know the whole answer to that, but I think special education is at least partly administered by the ISD, so that may be the place to go for details. Pam Mish is the special ed director there, I think: pmish [at] wash.k12.mi.us

By: Roz Dieterich

Roz Dieterich — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:39:15 +0000

Well-researched and well-written synopsis. I’m curious – though many of the proposed changes were discussed in detail, the impact of the cuts on special education appeared to be only mentioned in passing. Are there any more details on that?

By: jo mathis

jo mathis — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:47:37 +0000

Outstanding reporting of a tough topic.

By: Joe Edwards

Joe Edwards — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:24:40 +0000

*varies greatly

By: Joe Edwards

Joe Edwards — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:23:44 +0000

It will be interesting to watch how the pay-to-play funding is distributed. Currently, the General Fund Subsidy per Student varies greater by sport. For example, in a recent year at one school, the women’s golf subsidy per student was 6 times the subsidy per student amount that women’s cross country received. I understand why there is a difference in cost per student by sport, but if I were a parent of a female cross country team member (perhaps in a few years) and paid the same $150 fee that the parent of the golf team member paid, I would question that distribution.

By: fridgeman

fridgeman — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:53:30 +0000

Thanks for the thorough article. I found this article easier to digest than the budget-related info directly from AAPS (though I do appreciate their increased emphasis on open communication, particularly since the failed millage)

By: Fred Posner

Fred Posner — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:34:34 +0000

I’m wondering if there’s any data to support the privatization criticism… as if there are more incidents of safety with privatization than non-privatized workforces. I’ve always thought that one benefit of such is that when there is a problem, it’s much easier to remove the problem than if the problem were to be a public employee.

By: Glenn Nelson (School Board Member)

Glenn Nelson (School Board Member) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:56:36 +0000

Thank you to the Ann Arbor Chronicle and to Jennifer Coffman for your thorough and accurate coverage of this important issue. We citizens in the Ann Arbor School District have very important decisions ahead of us. These decisions will affect the future of the entire community as well as especially our children and young people. The information you are providing will contribute to more informed decisions.