Gros Cap School To Call for Three-Year Millage Renewal
By Paul Gingras

Tuesday, May 8, residents in Moran Township will be asked to vote on candidates for two open school board seats currently occupied by Nancy Dandona and Mike Cope. They will also be asked to pass a renewal millage to fund Gros Cap School for the next three years.

Gros Cap will request 16.8734 mills, the same amount approved by voters in 2005. The administration expects it to produce approximately $914,000 in 2007. The only change, said Superintendent Bill Peltier, is that the administration is seeking a three-year millage instead of two.

A mill is an assessment on property taxes equal to $1 for each $1,000 in taxable value of property. The taxable value is noted on property assessment rolls and on tax bills.

Gros Cap is funded differently than most other school districts in the state. The next millage, if passed, will provide the primary source of funding for all fundamental school operations. It will be used to educate 94 students in grades kindergarten through eight, pay a part-time superintendent, six fulltime teachers, one three-quarter time teacher, one secretary, one cook, one part-time contracted business manager, one custodian, one part -time speech therapist, and all other costs associated with educating students, not including upkeep of buildings, buses, or other infrastructure upgrades.

The school cannot run without the renewal, said business manager Lillian Clark. This is because Gros Cap does not receive a significant, per pupil, allotment of money each year. Most schools do, and they use it to operate their districts.

Owing to the small number of students in Moran Township, and the high property values in the area - notably waterfront property on Lake Michigan - the state allows Gros Cap to be funded exclusively on taxes collected for non-homestead properties, such as second homes and businesses. Non-homestead properties do not include the homes residents live in for the majority of the year.

Gros Cap is one of 13 districts in Michigan to be funded with primarily by non-homestead property taxes. Others include Mackinaw City Public Schools and Mackinac Island Public School. Valuable waterfront properties and businesses lie within all three school districts, which produce sufficient revenue to support the low-population schools, Mr. Peltier explained.

The amount of school funding promised by the state to other school districts can be uncertain, he added. This year, for example, the state promised a $210 per student increase to districts such as St. Ignace Area Schools. Owing to an unexpected state funding shortfall, however, some portion of this allotment will be taken back, leaving administrators to prepare for best and worst-case scenarios, to prepare for budget shortages.

This is not the case at Gros Cap, since it does not rely on per-pupil funding from the state. Therefore, if the public passes the millage, the school's critical operational funding will be guaranteed for three years.

"It's pretty cut and dried," Mr. Peltier said. If the public wants the school there, it will pass the millage, and Gros Cap will stay open. The district has been operating for approximately 125 years, he added.

Although critical operational funding at Gros Cap is not provided by the per-pupil funding, the district may lose a small amount of revenue from the proposed reduction in state funds. The state promised Gros Cap $1,587 for middle school mathematics programs, for example, but the funding may be cut in February, Mr. Peltier said. Gros Cap students excel in middle-school mathematics, however, so the district would have likely used that funding elsewhere, he added.

Another fund, which will not be on the ballot this year, is the school's building fund, referred to as the Sinking Fund, which was renewed for three years by residents in 2006.

Although the school has already completed several major infrastructure improvements, Mr. Peltier reminded the board that the district will always need to maintain its sinking fund for ongoing infrastructure problems. Mr. Peltier told The St. Ignace News Gros Cap will always need a fund for to keep up its buildings. For example, the school needs to replace several furnaces, one of which has broken down several times this year but cannot be replaced without shutting the school down. It will be dealt with this summer, Mr. Peltier told the board.

There has been ongoing discussion at the school of whether technology, such as computers and buses, can be considered infrastructure and updated with building fund money, as well as using the funds to replace leaky roofs, furnaces, and windows. Mr. Peltier is in favor of doing so.

Mr. Peltier said that legislators are beginning to understand that, in the modern age, computer systems in schools are "just as important as heating systems." Taking computers out of many existing businesses, he explained, would deal a major blow to their infrastructure.

To convince lawmakers to allow schools to use building funds for technology upgrades, Mr. Peltier testified before the Michigan House Education Committee last year. Most members of the committee were receptive to the idea, he said, but the chairman never brought the issue to the floor for a vote.

"We have a new power base now," however, he said, referring to the Democrat-controlled legislature, which he believes is more inclined to adopte the policy. The Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) believes the committee will likely call for a vote on the matter this year. If approved, the proposal would go to the state senate.

At the Monday meeting, Mr. Peltier presented the school board with pamphlets recently sent home to Gros Cap families detailing what the school has taught students about technology.

The pamphlets reflect what students have been able to achieve in relation to what the state expects of them, he said. The pamphlets cover what students know about technology's basic operations and concepts, how social, ethical, and human issues relate to it, how technology can increase productivity, such as the benefits of word processors and drawing tools, how technology can be used to enhance communication, how it can be used for research, and how technology can help people solve problems and make decisions.

The evaluations are more useful for parents than simply reporting grades, Mr. Peltier said.

Students at all grade levels are finishing their technology projects, which they will presented at the district's technology fair Friday, January 26. The public is invited to attend.