KEYSTONE ACADEMY, a PUBLIC SCHOOL under the Michigan Constitution of 1963, is authorized by Bay Mills Community College and subject to general supervision of the State Board of Education.
The Board of Directors of Keystone are public officials who are subject to the same rights and responsibilities as all other public school board members. We adopt an annual budget each July, expecting (by best possible information) that our school will receive the same per-pupil spending increase as all other public schools. (Of course, we know full well that each charter student would still be allotted hundreds below what other public students in Michigan are given.)
Still, we had SOMETHING on which to base a budget!
Now, four months into the budget year… and Governor Whitmer vetoed the $240 per-pupil funding increase … for CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOL ONLY!
How is this fair? Charter schools have a higher percentage of low-income students … and Charter schools also have a larger percentage of higher-performing students!
This is proven every time the Dept. of Education publishes the annual status of public schools in Michigan.
So … are we to understand that if our teachers work more diligently and our students study more seriously, and our Service Providers know better how to plan and use the funds more efficiently … OUR STUDENTS are to be punished?
Something is very wrong here!
We, as the Board of Directors of KEYSTONE ACADEMY hereby expresses its dismay and disappointment with state policymakers and the budgeting process, and
WE are calling on Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature to take immediate action to restore the $240 per-pupil increase for Michigan’s public charter schools.
I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly adopted by the Board of Directors of KEYSTONE ACADEMY, of BELLEVILLE, MICHIGAN at its meeting held on October 10, 2019 at which a quorum was present.
Vesta Losen, Board President
Darren Hickonbottom, Board Vice-Pres.
Connie Shull, Board Secretary
Charlene Derrick, Board Treasury
Patricia Kirkpatrick, Board Director