Saugatuck, Mich. (WZZM)-- Saugatuck schools have some tough choices to make now that the new Michigan budget is set. The school system had anticipated a cut in funding but Superintendent Rolfe Timmerman says they were not at all prepared for the deep cuts they are now forced to deal with.
"We kind of figured on a couple of hundred. That is what we budgeted for about a $200 reduction. So that one we were ready to deal with," he said. "It is a disaster for every body. It hit us twice as hard."
He says this week they learned the cuts will total closer to $600 per pupil. Cuts he call "devastating to say the least."
"You quite can't budget for that, he said.
He says district leaders were disappointed a few weeks ago when they learned Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law a 165-dollar per pupil cut to the state's 549 school districts. Then Thursday, she enacted another $127 per pupil cut. However, Timmerman says the big blow to Saugatuck schools came when Granholm vetoed $52 million 20J funding set aside for the state's highest-spending school districts, including Saugatuck.
"Oh yeah, I mean we are going to lose money. We went from 17% fund equity to 9% in one week. You can't plan for that," said Timmerman. Our parents are on edge. The staff is on edge. We are not going to overreact. We will take about a month to get this figured out."
He says luckily the district is in the process of negotiating a contract with teachers.
"I am hopeful with our group that we can contain some of the costs and get through this year without making drastic cuts and deal with it next year. Negotiations is a huge piece for us so hopefully we can recover some of those costs through the bargaining table," he said while also acknowledging things will likely look worse in the 2010-1011 school year.
"Well I can't guarantee the classroom won't be affected. We are going to have to look at it. We can't sustain a 50% hit to our fund equity in a month," he said predicting staff reductions in the upcoming year. "Salaries have gone up. Insurance is double digit. We are going to have to figure it out. It will be classroom teachers next year for Saugatuck."
The news is troubling for parents in the school district. One mother, with 2 children in the district believes cutting education should be the last option for lawmakers.
"I bring my kids 30 miles just to get them to this district so they can go to one of the very best schools in the area and it is very disturbing to me," she said. "If they cut teachers they are going to be losing so much more and they have already lost so much over the years. They are the ones that are going to be taking care of us when we get old. If we cut their education and don't prepare them well enough. What is it going to be like in 20 or 30 years."
Mike Johnson, another parent with 2 children in the district, agrees.
"Give these kids a chance I mean the same chance you and I had when we went to grade school. We are in the middle of this whole darn thing and the kids are the ones who suffer. It's not us so much as the kids," said Johnson.
District leaders are encouraging the community not to overreact and say they will come up with a plan to make sure the cuts don't affect the quality of education in Saugatuck schools.
"We had 96% of our kids graduate last year and of that group 98% went on to 2 and 4 year colleges. Find me another school district doing that," said Timmerman. "I think the quality will still be there but we are going to have to rethink it and be leaner and meaner and come out swinging. That is what we are going to have to do next year."
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