Suttons Bay Schools Face Budget Problems, Seek New Ideas
SUTTONS BAY -- Suttons Bay Public Schools are preparing to cut $500,000 dollars from its spending next year.
While they’re not the only school district in Michigan facing financial challenges, they are taking an innovative approach. Thursday evening the school district will ask parents to decide what programs are most important.
Superintendent Mike Murray says "tracking what's coming in for revenue is like charting the course of a yo-yo."
Murray claims it’s difficult to know exactly how much he’ll have to cut because the state keeps giving and taking away. Governor Jennifer Granholm already cut $165 per student from school systems state wide, more cuts could come.
Suttons Bay Public Schools Business Manager, Leann Eustice says "it’s incredibly frustrating, especially the part of not knowing. We go from being told we'll have a deficit and we are going to lose money, then they'll say we're not."
School Administrators claim they’re finding it more and more difficult to pin point areas to eliminate.
Eustice says “we've cut staff, we’ve cut clerical positions, we’ve laid off teachers, a counselor. We try to minimize the affect it has on students."
Thursday’s community hearing will help the school district generate ideas.
Murray says "in bad budget times it doesn't mean you stop it means you decide what is really important."
At the meeting school officials will also pitch an idea to parents that could solve the deficit.
Murray says "we would get out of transportation business as a school district, but we wouldn’t leave parents stranded. Bay Area Transportation Authority would come in, we would lease them our buses so they would have a fleet, lease them our maintenance area so they would have a Leelanau hub. They would run routes and pick up our kids while they run those routes.”
BATA Director Tom Menzel says “It’s innovative and I think that in this time all these public entities are downsizing and laying off. Transportation has an extraordinary opportunity to add value to the community, to expand our business model while everybody else is cutting.”
Murray says "if it’s not this then, there are drastic cuts to be made and larger classroom sizes and so forth"
Meanwhile Murray could be leaving Suttons Bay Schools. He is one of two finalists for a superintendent position with Grosee Ile Township Schools. It’s a larger school district down state. Murray is optimistic that if he leaves, it won’t hurt the school as they face this challenging financial time.
"Part of leadership is creating a vision that's bigger than one person. When other people accept the idea they can help see them through so no one person is irreplaceable.” Explains Murray
BATA and Suttons Bay Public Schools will meet on Tuesday, January 12th to further discussions.
