Part 1

The school finance system in Michigan needs to be revisited by legislatures. I

believe that the current system is antiquated and does not offer all students a fair chance
at receiving a quality education. The one positive of the current system is that at least for
the last few years it has been predictable and consistent. Even amidst a change in state
governance, the basic funding that most districts receive has remained the same, which
allows all districts to be able to budget and plan appropriately. Unfortunately having a
system that is not completely reliable hinders long term planning on the part of some
districts, especially charter schools that do not have a sizeable fund balance to offset the
cost of large scale projects or major changes to their educational delivery.
The current system is vulnerable to economic down turns. This region is one that
is dependant on one major industry. When that major industry struggles to the point that
major tax revenues are affected at a state level, then all the services that are dependant on
those tax dollars also struggle. Michigan is a state that strongly needs to diversify its
economic system and the education system is also one that needs to diversify. If one area
or revenue stream struggles or has an economic drop off then the impact on the whole
system is slight and can be overcome. This change in economic focus would be beneficial
for both services.
When there is a decrease in tax dollars that leads to a decrease in the amount of
money available for spending on education. The districts that are fortunate enough to
have a millage or other local bonds passed to supplement education funding also suffer
when the economy has a down turn and is dependant on one industry. Citizens are less
willing to give more money to fund education when they have less money as income.
The ability to pass a millage to supplement educational funding creates an
inequality in funding among all districts in Michigan. Not all districts are funded the
same. As mentioned previously, districts are able to propose and pass a millage or bond
issues to supplement educational funding or to build and improve buildings. In districts
where the state and condition of their schools is an area of importance to the community
or rolling out large scale projects such as purchasing a tablet computer for each student is
a point of pride, a millage is easier to pass. In districts where the community is struggling
economically or other civic issues have a greater urgency there is less of a chance that
any type of bond issue or millage will pass. Charter schools have no ability to pass or
propose a millage so they have no chance at gaining additional funding outside of grants.
In this sense, enviably the rich get richer, because the students in the districts that
can afford to supplement more, have an educational experience that is state of the art. The
districts which cannot afford to pass any of these additional funding resources continue to
fall behind as they just try to maintain an inadequate education.
Determining what is a sufficient amount to spend on education is a difficult item
to resolve. As a budgetary line item, whatever the budget allows determines what the
sufficient amount is. I believe that there is no bigger influence on turning around the
fortunes of a struggling city, county, region or state then education. Developing children
and turning them into thoughtful students who have the ability to look at problems and
issues critically and make profound decisions that will lead to improvement has a bigger
payoff than any other investment that a community will make. Many factors should be
used to determine what a sufficient amount to be spent on education is. Included in those
factors should be the cost of citizens making thoughtful decisions through voting and
conversely the cost of making a civic decision that does not work out as planned, the
amount that is spent by college students on remedial courses at major universities and
employee training costs by major corporations. The purpose of public education should
be to develop children into intelligent, thoughtful adults that are able to step into
whichever profession they chose and be equipped to make a positive impact. These
factors will vary by community and region, and thus is an area where there could be some
local control, depending on the needs of that community.
Accountability is trait that should be a part of all public functions. Schools need to
be accountable for delivering an education to its students that is meaningful, impactful
and prepares students to function in society outside of school. Accountability in schools
has seen an uptick in recent years, but it still needs to be expanded. A balance needs to be
reached between quality instruction and student improvement. It is fair to say that the
goals in some legislation such as No Child Left Behind were unrealistic. It is improbable
that all students will score high levels on all areas of all assessments, but they should at
least be given quality opportunities and experiences to achieve those goals.
Unfortunately, there are some schools and some districts that do not always have this as a
goal. This area could be remedy by the state quality control reviews, with schools
receiving a penalty for not reaching certain scores on their reviews. This is no different
then the way that many companies inspect their franchises, manufacturing centers or
products.



Part II West Bloomfield Public Schools
This portion of the assignment features a review of West Bloomfield Public
Schools located in Oakland County, MI. This district is one in which they do levy the
hold harmless clause of public education funding. Currently their operating revenue is
shared by local, state and federal funding sources. Local resources contribute 19% of the
budget or 12.5 million dollars. State funding accounts about 72% of their budget or 45.2
million dollars. Federal sources count for 3.8% of the budget or 2.4 million dollars. This
district also has a sinking fund millage of 1.25 mills and a debt millage of 7.90 mills.
In the past five years West Bloomfield Public Schools has seen a slight increase in
its per pupil foundation allowance. The current rate is $8, 676 per student. Enrollment
has seen a slight decrease overall but very minimal. For example there was a slight
decrease of 254 students over the last school year. This decrease would be significant in
many districts, in fact 254 students is almost enough to fund a whole building, but WBPS
has an overall enrollment of over 6,200 students. This is a trend to watch and be
concerned about. The district does offer school of choice for out of district students but it
is on a limited bases and determined by a percentage of overall school capacity.
Due to enrollment limitations WBPS has seen a few changes throughout the
district that have a financial impact. Class size has held firm at a 25 student to 1 teacher
ratio. Students at the high school level do have pay to play sports and other activities.
Collective bargaining has been impacted by the closing of one elementary school and
other staff reductions. Reducing the number of employees has an impact on many aspects
of collective bargaining.
The overall financial health of the district does seem to be stable but is trending
downward, but there are some areas of concern. The slight enrollment decline should be
an area of focus for district administrators. West Bloomfield is a large area that continues
to grow. If enrollment continues to decline one way to remedy the issue would be to
increase the number of students enrolled via school of choice. Students form
underperforming neighboring districts would be drawn to these openings.
The district does have a fund balance. That balance is nearly $1.8 million dollars.
In recent years WBPS has had to utilize small portions of that fund balance which is
really what it is there for, but it does continue to decrease. The district policy is to
maintain a fund balance of at minimum, 10% of operating cost. The operating cost is $62
million dollars. The district is far under performing in its goal, they are nearly 66% short
of what they expect to have.
From this perspective the financial health of the district is not doing well. By not
meeting or coming close to their target fund balance, they are far under performing. The
largest cost to the district (as with all districts) is instruction. In the coming years the
district will have to make some hard decisions in regards to its staff and their contracts
unless additional revenue streams can be identified.
I believe that the district should take a strong look at its instructional cost and
work to determine what the cost is per successful student. Determining what costs are
essential for a student to be successful and then look at the ancillary cost around that
student and determine what cost could be reduced or eliminated. This analysis is one in
which private companies undergo on a regular basis and would be beneficial to this
school and others as well.








Shannon Anderson
March 27, 2014
Hawthorn Center
Northville, MI