VBPS board president frustrated over state legislature’s lack of budget action

Amy Pearce, president of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, voiced her fear that the district may have to spend extra funds to borrow money to keep the school going because the state legislature “… can’t get their act together. It’s frustrating.”
She referred to the state legislators being unable to pass a budget that would allow money to be released to school districts for their operations.
Pearce voiced her concerns during the Sept. 22 regular school board meeting after finance director Priya Nayak reported she was preparing for short-term borrowing in case the state’s inaction on the budget lasted beyond the Oct. 1 deadline.
Nayak said there also is confusion between federal funds and state funds because federal depends on state funds for authorization. Also, the federal money due to the district in May is not here yet.
School Superintendent Pete Kudlak said every district in the state is in a different place financially and some have already had to borrow to meet their September obligations.
He said the Van Buren district has a healthy fund balance, but that only goes so far.
Nayak said steps have to happen to borrow and she will talk to the attorney about it. She said the district has a qualified status, so that is good.
She said she will bring a contingency plan to the next board meeting.
“And this is because the legislature can’t do their jobs,” Kudlak said.
He said the students will continue to get their free lunches and breakfasts because the district qualifies federally by family eligibility, but parents have to fill out the eligibility forms each year or the district will lose that eligibility.
Nayak said the district is sending out emails to parents urging them to fill out their eligibility forms by Oct. 1.
“The numbers fall when they don’t fill out the forms and then we don’t qualify and have to start over,” Kudlak said.
In other business at Monday’s 35-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved the hiring of Molly Stevens as a Great Start Readiness Program teacher at the Early Childhood Center as of Sept. 25 and Jill Marvaso as director of curriculum and instruction as of Oct. 1, replacing Jeff Moore, who resigned;
• Approved the hiring of Juan Walker as a paraprofessional at McBride Middle School as of Sept. 9, Renatta Swasey as a paraprofessional at McBride as of Sept. 15, and Phillip Dlugoss as custodian in the Building and Grounds Department as of Sept. 22;
• Approved the Camp Field Trip and transportation for 180 students, most in the sixth grade at Owen Intermediate School, with counselors from 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, as well. The camp will be Nov. 4-7 at YMCA Camp Copneconic in Fenton. Students will travel by school bus. Cost to each student is $250 with students paying and a fund raiser available;
• Approved school board members Diane Loyer Gerick, Calvin Hawkins, and Wade Fields as delegates to the annual leadership conference of the Michigan Association of School Boards in October, with Vic DeLibera as alternate. They will represent the district and vote on state education issues;
• Heard Julien Frazier, director of student services say that the kindergartens are getting additional support from bus drivers who are extra hands for the teachers in getting the students acclimated to school. He said the drivers park their buses after delivering the students and then get off the bus and go inside to help. He said this is the first year for this at the Early Childhood Center. Kudlak said the district did this last year and he told other superintendents about it and they thought it was a good idea and planned to do it in their districts;
• Heard parent Billie Harsh say she has three children in the district and she sees there is $1 million for athletics in the budget. She said every kid on the football team has to fundraise $500 for equipment and uniform and she wondered where the $1 million was going. Kudlak said he would check into this and be in touch with her;
• Heard Kudlak say a person from the Michigan Treasury came by that day to walk around the district to check out the projects proposed for the $77 million bond that is on the Nov. 4 ballot. He said this is the first time someone from Treasury came out in person to check on a bond. He said he has been going to PTOs to explain the bond and he said one of the questions was about the bar graph on information he is distributing. It shows Van Buren among the handful of school districts carrying millage below 6 (which includes Plymouth/Canton and Taylor, which both are lower than Van Buren). He said the bond is 2.98 mills, the sinking fund 1.75 mills and the total millage levied by Van Buren 4.73 mills. He said the proposal is not to raise that, but just for it not to go down;
• Heard Gerick say about 250 people came to the recent alumni tailgate party and some went out to the football game with the band. She said they didn’t line them up by year because that would have been “too much like herding cats”. She said the tailgate went well and they will have that again; and
• Heard Pearce say she and her pilot husband will serve on the Aviation Expansion Advisory Committee which will meet at Schoolcraft College under RESA leadership. She said a drone expert will be there, as well.