We are reporting it all the time; school districts here in Northern Michigan laying off staff, cutting programs and slashing their budget. So when a viewer got word that one area school was bucking the trend and actually hiring staff next year, they called me and wondered how they were doing it. The answer I found for her is the subject of this Fact Finder.

Northport School Superintendent Jeff Tropf has only been on the job since February, but already he has a pretty good idea of the community that his students come from, "we are a really small community where everybody knows everybody." A small community but don't let Northport fool you. This small town has a big heart and big dreams for the students that attend the school. Tropf says "Our goal is to have these kids be highly educated and be able to go wherever they want past graduation and be able to do very very well." His goal for students is pretty common among school superintendent's here in Northern Michigan. The difference is that Tropf and Northport Public School are chasing that goal without having to slash their budget. According to Tropf "In our total budget we have about a 3.5 million dollar budget. We have somewhere around 1 million dollar in fund equity currently. We are going to be roughly in the same ballpark next year."

No cuts, no layoff's, no programs eliminated. While surrounding districts like TCAPS are laying people off, Northport is adding. Tropf explains "We're looking at hiring 3 staff members currently, and from you and a lot of people we understand that we are a little unique in that regards. Where a lot of schools at it staying the same or cutting we're actually going to hire probably a net 1.5 people over our budget from last year which will represent 3 total staff people."

At Northport Public School there will be at least one new 5th grade teacher roaming the halls this fall and in addition they are looking to hire someone in the intervention program for both elementary and for middle and high school students. The intervention specialist will help bring students who have fallen behind back up to speed with their peers.

A viewer emailed me, wondering how in this economy is this school able to do it. How is Northport seemingly able to avoid the per pupil pitfall that is plaguing everyone else? Tropf say the answer is pretty simple. "Northport currently is out of formula for the Proposal A funding. We are not part of the foundational allowance and the school aid package that normal schools are." Most schools get their funding through Proposal A that's why they are watching Lansing like a hawk to see just how much money they will have to work with next year, but not Northport. As Tropf explains it "We do not receive that per pupil funding it doesn't affect us. It's not that we are not sympathetic or we don't understand how other schools are funded, we do. Its just one of those programs that allows Northport to be out of formula which we are."

So since they don't get per pupil funding, where do they get their money?

Tropf says "The easiest way to explain it is we have twice as many non homestead properties in our district as homestead properties that puts us out of formula. So earlier this spring in May we passed a 5 year millage in which our district voters voted on the millage and passed this millage and this funds our schools at about 85% of a 3.6 million dollar budget. The balance of that budget is made up on some of the progress and some of the entitlement programs from the state of Michigan."

So Northport is similar to Glen Lake and Frankfort in terms of not being a typical Proposal A school district. They get their money from mileages and taxes directly, not so much from decision made in the legislature in Lansing.

The superintendent says it posses some challenges, but in this case, being able to make plans without having to watch every move in Lansing frees them up to focus on education.

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