AAPS Board to Address 2011-12 Deficit
Ann Arbor Public Schools board of education meeting (April 20, 2011): Wednesday’s meeting of the AAPS board of education outlined the district’s planned budget cuts for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The district needs to cut about $15 million from their budget in response to reductions in education funding they expect to be handed down from the state.
Robert Allen, interim superintendent of the Ann Arbor Public Schools, addresses the board of education at their April 20, 2011 meeting.
The proposed cuts would eliminate 70 teaching positions, and would likely lead to changes in the district that include larger class sizes, fewer elective options and new roles for teachers. Other proposals include eliminating busing for high school students, cutting salaries and benefits, and creating “shared” principal positions at four elementary schools. On the revenue side, the budget plan calls for expanding the district’s Schools of Choice program and increasing parking fees at Pioneer High School for University of Michigan football and basketball games.
Interim superintendent Robert Allen delivered the presentation, saying that this year’s budget preparations were the most difficult he’s had in his five years working with the district’s finances.
“Although we have made similar cuts, it is even more difficult to make them on the heels of the $18 million we reduced last year,” he said. “We tried to keep the cuts away from the classroom, but at some point that becomes impossible.”
Allen said the district’s structural deficit, which creates an annual hole of $6-7 million dollars, will not go away until it’s dealt with directly. ”We’ve been facing the structural deficit for about 10 years and we can’t address it by cutting,” he said. “We have to fix the structure.”
The deficit could grow even larger – by nearly $6 million – if voters don’t pass a special education millage renewal that’s on the May 3 ballot. At several points throughout the meeting, board members and AAPS staff urged the public to support the millage renewal.
Allen closed his introduction by saying that the district tried to make the cuts in an equitable manner, adding that everyone should maintain efforts to lobby state representatives to come up with a permanent fix for budget woes.
The budget update was an informational item at Wednesday’s meeting and will come back before the board as a briefing item next month before it can be approved. [Full Story]