Comments on: AAPS Mulls Options to Increase Revenue

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:12:40 +0000

I think there’s an important question about equality between school districts to be raised. AAPS has more opportunities for revenue enhancement with private donations and business partnerships than, say, Inkster or Escanaba. So while the AAPS School board should be looking at our local challenges, we also need to think about the statewide problem of under-funded schools. It’s bigger than just Ann Arbor.

By: Chuck Warpehoski

Chuck Warpehoski — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:58:53 +0000

I don’t understand the sentence, “Allen also pointed out that pension costs are rising due to the large number of workers leaving the state retirement system.” Is the increase due employment cuts meaning that fewer workers sustain more workers? Or is it employers having fewer employees in the system (such as WCC’s effort to make adjunct employees temps so that they don’t pay into the system), or something else?

By: Stephen Landes

Stephen Landes — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:52:59 +0000

Now is the time for a real study of where the money for education goes — saying we’re not spending enough and we need to “enhance revenues” doesn’t tell me anything. The fundamental relationship is student-teacher; anything beyond that is indirect cost. Some of the indirect cost may be necessary, some desirable, some associated with the way we manage our schools. I doubt we have really taken a deep dive look at what influences the cost of education and what we can change about the way we think of schools, education, moving children, managing schools: fundamental change based on information from outside the “education establishment” is critical to both improving education and reducing cost.

By: Christine Stead

Christine Stead — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:03:11 +0000

Ms. Coffman makes an important contribution to our community with this article, as the coverage here is accurate and well-organized.

It is surprising to me that the cuts the AAPS district makes every year do not have much of a community memory. Last year, AAPS cut $20M for FY2011, or slightly over 10% of our operating budget (a small % of this was met with revenue-enhancing initiatives such as Schools of Choice). This was on top of budget cuts that came mid-year of FY2010 and continued to change throughout the year, only being finalized in our last two weeks of the fiscal year. Cuts become more difficult each year, as we have to make them each and every year. Last year was particularly difficult.

The district faces a structural deficit each year – and each year we cut operating expenses. As a state, we have decelerated investing in education for more than a decade. We are certainly aware of our declining resources and declining state priority in education.

As a community that values education and appreciates its link to economic sustainability, we need to do find ways to enhance education via multiple approaches; hence our efforts on education legislation reform and revenue enhancement initiatives. Education should be one of our top priorities, intimately linked to economic development and a high quality of life. As a community, we are mutually dependent on each other’s success – in business, in education and throughout our community.

By: David

David — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:48:49 +0000

I wish the school district would adjust to the reality of dwindling funds. Some of the suggestions will raise some money but how much can they extract from the general public on a regular basis?