

Imagine waking up and finding out that the school your child goes to was suddenly closed. That’s what parents in the Buena Vista school district in Michigan faced this week. The impoverished school district announced that it would not be able to make pay roll for the month of May, fired staff and closed all three of its schools without completing the school year. The school district released an official statement on its website explaining the situation.

Our analysis of the Districts cash flow demonstrates to us that, absent an extraordinary situation, we will not be able to make payroll for staff on May 24. Recent reductions in state school aid, combined with a severe drop in enrollment have created a situation where the District has not been able to get small enough fast enough. Adding to this problem is the fact that the District must return to the state funds related to the Wolverine Secure Treatment Center which it continued to receive after the program severed ties with the District in 2012. The District brought its receipt of these funds to the attention of the State during a meeting with state officials to discuss a draft of its deficit elimination plan in February. All of this came into focus when the State did not transmit the District’s April state school aid.

The school district has had problems for years according to sources. In one year it went from a $55,000 deficit to a $1 million deficit. The state is also demanding repayment of $400,000 in funds that were given to school district to fund the Wolverine Center an alternative school that severed ties with the district in 2012 after bring dissatisfied with services. The vice president of the program, Derrick McCree, said that school district was not serving the needs of the students that it was legally required to serve. The money was not going toward new equipment, summer programs or psychological evaluations therefore the decision was made to pull out of the district.

On Monday night the teachers in the school district voted to continue working without a promise of pay so that the students could finish their school years. Despite this, the district has kept the schools closed and when asked about it they said the decision was from a legal standpoint as it is illegal to make people work for free. The Michigan Education Association expressed outrage over the decision to close the schools and leave the students floundering.

“Aside from the time to come up with a solution with the state, the Buena Vista Education Association and the MEA offered our professional assistance in coming up with a plan that would help lead the district out of deficit,” President Steve Cook said. “Last night’s clear response? ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ The response from the state has been no better, with a steady stream of talking points out of Lansing about how there was nothing they could do under the law to help the students of this district. Since when do we need anything other than our state constitution saying that the state has a responsibility to educate our children in order to get action to keep schools open until June? Instead of coming up with a solution, bureaucrats spent Monday coming up with excuses. When politicians and pundits claim public education is broken and blame teachers as the cause — especially those like Gov. Snyder and others who voted for his massive school funding cuts — we will remind them of this day.”

Governor Snyder has cut $1 billion from school funding while at the same time giving a $1.8 billion in tax breaks to corporations and special interests. However, this is not an isolated incident that is unique to Michigan, it is happening across the country. In my very own school district in Florida the budget was cut so dramatically that our district is eliminating 188 full-time jobs. Across the country 120 school districts have moved to four day weeks. According to Campaign For America’s future budget are causing cutbacks from early childhood education programs, increases in class sizes and termination of art, music, physical education and other elective subjects. These cuts are having the biggest effect on children. The kids in the Buena Vista district were just screwed; they can’t even finish their school year. As of right now there are no plans to bus the kids to another district to finish their year, so what are they supposed to do? How about the high school seniors that are so close to graduating? These questions have not been answered and as of right now there is no plan to enroll students next year into the district schools.

Republicans often blame teachers and parents for the problems with education. Teacher unions are to blame for wanting fair pay for their hard work. Parents are to blame for not teaching their children at home. It’s always the fault of everyone else and never the fault of politicians. Politics are playing too big a role in our schools and this is what is happening. Kids are left out in the cold. Parents are left wondering what the hell they are supposed to do. Teachers are left without jobs. It is absolutely astonishing and heartbreaking. Our children are losing and the right doesn’t care. It’s time for us to stand up and start screaming; otherwise this country is going to be a bleak place in a few years. There is a serious problem when billion dollar corporations are receiving tax cuts while an entire school district shuts down during a school year.