Our district, like others across the state, is in the process of making some very difficult decisions in order to address the $165 per pupil cut imposed upon us by the State of Michigan. No one anticipated that size of a cut, and we know that it is possible that the State will "ding" us once again in a couple of months. It angers us. It frustrates us. Yet, we have to meet this challenge with actions.
The Board of Education Finance Committee met yesterday to review some considerations for cuts. We will see a cut in state aid of $447,409, and so the considerations that were reviewed total approximately $436,590 at this time. $131,000 has been tagged in instructional support and resources, $127,217 in administrative cuts, $77,087 in extra-curricular, $50,200 in facilities,
$2500 in transportation, and $47,586 in reducing days of instruction. All painful. However, through this process, it is my hope that our teams can pull together and make the best of this situation.
Unfortunately, it has come back to me that in some schools today, there has been considerable "griping" about staff having to remove their personal refrigerators and other appliances. An audit of how many extra appliances plugged into our schools revealed enough to cause the question, "How much in energy, do these appliances end up costing? A meter was placed on a mini-fridge. Energy cost: $13/month. Multiply that by 9 months of the school year. Total school year cost: $117. NOW, multiply $117 x 20 (that is an audit of JUST refrigerators at one of our schools). $2340 is the yearly COST of 20 extra refrigerators in one school!
Rather than cut another person's hours or position, or rather than eliminating more extra-curricular opportunities for kids, we will tell staff to bring an insulated lunch bag for their lunch, and to unplug their refrigerator. It is not only the RIGHT thing to do--it is the ETHICAL thing to do in times such as this.
There ARE no "best" places to cut. We can, however, minimize impact to students. Cutting staff personal appliance usage is one way in which we can do this.