School districts deal with relocation of MSRP funds

Rick Charmoli | Cadillac News Michigan School Readiness Program teacher Lisa McLaurin uses an apple to teach students her classroom at Franklin Elementary.

On Thursday, Cadillac Area Public Schools Superintendent Paul Liabenow summed up his feeling with one word — unhappy.

Dealing with funding issues and the unpredictiblity of the state is nothing new in these economic times but when Liabenow got a letter Wednesday from the Michigan Department of Education it was almost like a slap in the face.

In the letter, the MDOP said that monies used for funding the Michigan School Readiness Program would be reallocated. The result was schools in northern Michigan are getting passed over for districts in more urban settings, according to Liabenow.

The difference in funding for Cadillac for the 2007-2008 school year will equal $349,600 less than what was allocated for the 2006-2007 school year, as it is proposed now.

“I can’t predict the final outcome but we will do everything in our power to convince the Department of Education to at least for this year continue the program we have in place,” he said. “This is a perfect example of inequity in funding for northern Michigan.”

Although CAPS is reeling from the unforeseen loss of funding, it is not alone. With most of the schools in the Cadillac area keeping even with last year’s funding levels, Lake City and Pine River also felt the pain of having funding cut.

Lake City will be receiving $33,000 less than the year before while Pine River is losing more than half of its funding from last year with a cut of $82,500.

Pine River Superintendent Jim Ganger said the loss of monies without a warning is like a “low blow.”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to our business manager but it is like, oh my gosh. This is like a low blow, but we are not the only district,” he said. “It is like here is your allocation, adjust your budget. Can we survive? Yeah, we can, but it is kind of a blow to the program and the resource.”

Ganger said the Pine River Board of Education has not made a final decision but has taken a stance of serving younger students to strengthen the early elementary program.

“How will we fund it? We will have to make some cuts in other areas around the district, not including personnel,” Ganger said. “It will be supplies and things like that and we will use fund equity.”

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