Parents and school officials met with State Representative Gary McDowell Sunday afternoon, March 7, at St. Ignace Middle School's library, voicing their frustration with recent statewide cuts in public school funding.

Representative McDowell's advice fell along the lines of the old adage, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” The only way a permanent solution will be brokered in Lansing amidst reelection bids and partisan politics, he said, is if Michigan's voters make it clear to their legislators that doing nothing about school funding will be more harmful to their political campaigns than making bold, but politically dangerous, decisions.

“That voice just needs to be deafeningly loud across the state,” Mr. McDowell said. The recently signed smoking ban bill, he said, was passed by the legislature because lawmakers were incessantly lobbied by supporters of it. SOS Michigan, which was formed to lobby state lawmakers to make changes that will fund Michigan school districts, is a good example, he said, of a citizen effort to demand positive change in the system.

“That is exactly what we need, one loud voice,” Mr. McDowell said. “It has got to come from the citizenry. You need for [legislators] to think it is more harmful to them that they do nothing.”

School budgets across the state have been affected by reductions in the state foundation allowance to districts, which was reduced by $165 per student for the 2009-2010 school year, and Mr. McDowell said schools would likely see another reduction, possibly of $205 or more per student, for 2001-2011.

“Schools are really struggling to stay afloat,” St. Ignace Superintendent Mike Springsteen said. “We want to continue offering the best programs we can for our kids.”

Mr. Springsteen said these cuts over the past few years have forced St. Ignace to eliminate 20 classes, not replace retiring teachers, cut the high school library, drop funding for athletics transportation, cut the athletic budget by 60%, reduce administrative positions to part time, and cut many other school and extracurricular programs.

Offering quality education is becoming more and more difficult, Mr. Springsteen said, with increasing requirements being mandated by the state legislature and steadily decreasing state aid to fund the curriculum. Increases in the cost of supplies, insurance, and contracted wages mean the school will need at least an additional $600,000 next year to fund current programs, and will likely get less.

“What I would ask you to do,” Mr. Springsteen said to Mr. McDowell, “is to decide whatever the program is going to be and to fund it.”

If the high estimate of a $268 per student reduction was made to the foundation allowance for 2010- 2011, Mr. Springsteen said that would amount to about $800,000 less revenue in the local district, or about 10% of St. Ignace's budget.

Mr. McDowell said the problem with school funding, and the dwindling state budget in general, stems from decreasing state tax revenues, which he said comes from changes in the spending habits of consumers and increasing opportunities for tax credits.

The state's general fund budget has fallen from more than $10 billion in 2000 to less than $7 billion this year, which he said is explained by the gap between a 4.3% reduction in the state economy over the last decade and an approximately 43% reduction in state tax revenue.

“That shows you that there is something else going on here,” Mr. McDowell said. “People's buying habits have changed, but it's also because of all the exemptions. The situation is dire.”

The message from Michigan's Senate, he said, has been consistently that the lawmakers are not willing to introduce any new taxes or fees, although he believes a change in tax structure is the only way to solve the state budget crisis exemplified by a current $1.4 billion budget deficit in next year's general fund.

“If they don't compromise at all, you are going to see an all-cut budget again next year,” Mr. McDowell said of the upcoming state budget. Some solutions, he said, are being suggested by Governor Jennifer Granholm through new taxes on services, although it is doubtful that the legislature will pass such new taxes without an outcry from Michigan voters.

Some present at Sunday's meeting suggested that part of the problem in Michigan school funding comes from Proposal A, which eliminated the possibility for school districts to fund operating costs with local property taxes and, instead, rely almost solely on state funding.

Mr. McDowell said he doesn't believe that going back to the old system of asking local voters to approve operating millages each year would be a good solution, but acknowledged that some change needs to be made if the state plans to appropriately fund its schools and other government services.

Others at the meeting asked what Mr. McDowell and other legislators are doing personally to reduce expenditures in the state government.

He said his office staffs only two employees and runs on a budget of less than $100,000. Personally taking a 10% pay cut, cleaning his own office, and other cost-saving measures, Mr. McDowell said, allowed him to return $10,000 allocated to his staff to the state's general fund this year.

The level of concern at Sunday's meeting spurred many to ask the representative if there is any light at the end of the tunnel for Michigan as a state and for the school budgets.

Mr. McDowell said recent improvements in the manufacturing sector of the state economy, the successful Pure Michigan tourism promotion campaign, and natural resources like the Upper Peninsula's vast forests could mean a bright future for Michigan, but he said financial investments need to be made to make the state's potential bear fruit.

“We have to invest in our state,” he said. “I do see a bright future. We can't give up on ourselves, we can't give up on our state, and we can't give up on our kids.”