EAC Asks GRPS to Take Legislative Leadership
On Monday, Nov. 2, the City High Middle Education Advocacy Committee appeared before the Grand Rapids Public Schools District board to ask it to take leadership in fighting cuts and to call on us parents for support.
Follow the link below to read one of the parent presentations and ideas of how parents can get legislators attention.
Also read the City High Middle resolution requesting that the state solve the structural deficit.
The following download is a resolution the EAC committee has been working on over the last few years:
Download file
Contents of Kate McCrindle's Submission to the Board:
Greetings. I am not here tonight for my son, who is a graduate of City High now attending the University of Michigan. I am here for his future children, and for all the children today who are going without and may not even know it.
Whatever school they go to, I am confident that they continue to be hurt by poor decisions on the part of the state, the community, parents and the district alike. I know first hand there are unacceptable conditions out there: kindergarten programs with 30 students; high school classes with 35-40 students; that there are programs without adequate textbooks; that students destined for careers in art and music performance are going without progressive grade by grade instruction; without access to music theory courses or grade appropriate studio work. I know that many do not have transportation to school, and that there are not enough professional guidance counselors to guide them. And if they want to engage in research, they will not find a certified librarian in libraries to help them, despite the generous gifts of books from the community.
This erosion did not happen overnight. Since at least 2000, the lethal combination of an increase in delivery cost and a decrease in funding to match has created a structural deficit in education that is now exponential. Here's a math lesson - no new taxes plus the rate of inflation equals an inverse erosion of services. Now, add rising costs, decreasing tax revenues, and MORE CUTS. The crisis is not someday. The crisis is NOW.
Yet, incredibly to me, no one is screaming "Raise our taxes so I can raise my child." Incredibly to me, we think that a 45 cent tax on our movie ticket will cause us grave harm when in truth it could reduce class sizes to 20 pupils. We live in a state that REVERSED personal income tax rates, where today it is lower than 30 years ago. Yet Sen. Mike Bishop says he is STANDING STRONG against hikes. IS HE STANDING STRONG ON QUICKSAND? Do we think the money to fund essential services just magically appears from the funding fairy? Are we, the taxpayers of Michigan, suffering magical thinking?
I am one person. I am looking for leadership from the district to effectively protect our children and to educate stakeholders. I realize the district has just launched a legislative action committee, although I fear it is too little, too late. What I would like to see is leadership from the district in more concrete, specific ways that produce immediate results.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Stage a Day Without Schools - Educate students on the legislative process and take busloads from EVERY SINGLE building to Lansing to put a human face on the cuts. Do it now.
2. Use the district's communication resources to start a movement today. Call it:
NO RECESS FOR LEGISLATORS ‘
TIL THERE'S NEW REVENUE FOR EDUCATORS.
While it’s noble for the District’s communication officer to retain and attract students with happy stories, right now that seems like decorating a room in a house that's on fire. Put your resources where they can make the most difference right now. Encourage parents to send a letter a day until recess.
3. Adopt the resolution crafted by the City High Middle Education Advocacy Committee over the last two years -- resolve that the state of Michigan closes the structural deficit via creating a new revenue model NOW and equalize funding as it was intended under Proposal A.
4. Prepare for next year's budget -- the cliff year -- by investigating ways to possibly regionalize districts OR prove that there is a diseconomy of scale in solidified services.
5. Last but not least, be candid about the challenges you face and the gravity of the situation, and inspire stakeholders to help you. I realize you've been put in a position where you have to compete with suburban districts and charter schools. But our children and their families need strong and incisive leadership right now, not more magical thinking.
In short, they need to hear that SILENCE is IMPLICIT APPROVAL, that INACTION is a decision to accept that which is unacceptable. Every single human being in this State needs to Speak Out For Our Schools.
I challenge Grand Rapids Public Schools to show statewide leadership, and on behalf of our children, I thank you.