Today, our school system is facing an unprecedented financial challenge. We are spending about $158M per year for 12000 students.  For this year, the budget is about $9M short.  By 2011 the deficit is expected to be $22M, an amount that will eat all our reserve funds.

(Ref: http://www.farmington.k12.mi.us/district/budget/pdf/school_funding_forum_042209.pdf)

This is the most critical question of the day.  I believe that we must reduce spending ‘smartly’, that is, find ways to reduce spending without affecting the quality of education.  In the next few months’, discussions to find ways to reduce spending will take place in our school district. This will involve active participation of school board members, school administrators, teacher representatives, other school employees and PTA members I would like to be there, with my voice.

I believe in the following values and I will do my best to hold them while working with the others on spending reduction,

• Schools are to EDUCATE our children and prepare them to succeed in the world of tomorrow – for a school system, nothing should be more important than education.
• Academics should not be compromised.
• Listen, listen, and listen.  I will listen to students, parents and teachers. They have first hand experience of effectiveness of various school programs. Use their opinions to decide what areas are important and where spending reduction is possible.
• Encourage larger involvement and empowerment of teachers.  I believe that teachers play the most important role in the success of school districts.
• No layoffs or additional taxes – use temporary pay cuts if necessary.
• Consider smaller incremental spending reduction in all areas than few large reductions. 
• Avoid redundancy i.e.  Explore sharing common expenses with other neighboring school districts.

2007 data (latest available) on national average of US schools of similar size shows that the non instructional spending was 36% of total budget. For Farmington public school the non instructional spending is slightly higher at 39.6%.  I believe that we should focus cost cutting on non-instructional areas first.

If you consider the private businesses, in past year almost everyone has experienced some type of spending reduction.

I believe the whole idea of how much money we need for a good education is partly a matter of mind set.  At around $13000 per student, ($158M for approximately 12000 students), we have among the highest per student funding in the US. i.e. Farmington public school per stundet funding is 91st percentile in USA. In simple words, out of every 10 students 9 are funded less than ours.

I believe, with a positive attitude of cooperation and conscientiously considering what is good for the whole community, we can find ways to reduce spending while maintaining the quality of education.