Inkster and Buena Vista School Districts Dissolved

[D_Town]

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/bu...s-be-dissolved

The Buena Vista and Inkster Public School districts will be dissolved. Both districts missed a 5pm deadline today to prove they had enough money to keep doors open next school year.

Richard Syrek is superintendent of the Saginaw Intermediate School District, which will be responsible for dissolving Buena Vista schools. He says the ISD plans to hold a community meeting Wednesday evening.

“So they can give us some idea of where they would like to go to school next year. Because we have a short period of time at this time to make a decision on what the boundaries are going to be. So we’d like their input.”
Syrek says a number of surrounding school districts say they can accommodate students from Buena Vista in the fall.
Officials with Inkster Public Schools said Comerica Bank was willing to extend a loan to the district. But they say it fell through because state officials would not approve Inkster’s deficit elimination plan first.

Other links about the story
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...OOLS/307220052

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...on-by-deadline

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/d...z/-/index.html

[Wesley Mouch]

Great news. Really great to see failure punished. Its a great lesson for the kids. If you don't want to fail, behave well.

[Novine]

"Its a great lesson for the kids. If you don't want to fail, behave well."

You're kidding, right? This isn't going to make any sense to the kids.

This is going to be a mess. You can't dump hundreds of kids on an adjoining district and expect things to go smoothly. Another half-baked idea from our Lansing politicians that shows they've got no clue.

[noise]

Great news. Really great to see failure punished. Its a great lesson for the kids. If you don't want to fail, behave well.

Do you really think that's the lesson they'll learn?

[TKshreve]

Great news. Really great to see failure punished. Its a great lesson for the kids. If you don't want to fail, behave well.

Either I'm missing something, or your sarcasm is wearing sunglasses today. What failure do you speak of? The only thing I found was an underfunded organization/public entity, which is rampant in our country these days; from individuals to cities to states...... wtf is new here?

Ain't nobody got the jobs to pay the taxes...... pretty simple shit iyam.

[Bham1982]

I wonder what Dearborn schools think about next year's inclusion of Inkster students.

Just wait until Pontiac fails. That district is on the verge of evaporation, and bordered by numerous affluent districts. Imagine Bloomfield Hills being forced to take 25% of Pontiac district. It could happen, and very soon.

And, of course, the big one is Detroit. If DPS ever goes under, it will absolutely rock the property values in surrounding areas.

[Novine]

The state law was written to exclude Pontiac and larger districts like Detroit. Suburban lawmakers aren't complete idiots. They know that "teaching" lessons to poor kids about adults making poor choices only makes sense when the adjoining districts aren't affluent middle and upper class communities.

[bailey]

The state law was written to exclude Pontiac and larger districts like Detroit [and any district larger than 2400...which is a shit ton of them].

Fixed that for you.


Perhaps district of 2200 SHOULD be dissolved when it's deficit is 15 million? Nah, that's racist/elitist/classist. The state should just pick up the tab and not ask questions and keep 550 school districts humming along no matter what.

[subsidized]

Hopefully they can get all the kids enrolled and get transportation figured out quickly for the upcoming school year. I wonder why there was no mention of Garden City Schools as being one of the districts the kids are being absorbed into, especially it being directly north of Inkster.

[mwilbert]

And, of course, the big one is Detroit. If DPS ever goes under, it will absolutely rock the property values in surrounding areas.

I would like DPS to go away, but, if it does, I would expect the students to be voucherized or something similar. I find it impossible to believe that anyone is going to force the neighboring cities to take the students, even though it seems a lot of Detroit students are already going to schools in other municipalities.

[Hermod]

The state law was written to exclude Pontiac and larger districts like Detroit. Suburban lawmakers aren't complete idiots. They know that "teaching" lessons to poor kids about adults making poor choices only makes sense when the adjoining districts aren't affluent middle and upper class communities.

The intent of the law was probably to phase out those school districts that were too small to ever be efficient. The larger districts just need to be better managed.

[Brian1979]

I know the Saginaw area pretty well and say that Buena Vista should have merged with Saginaw city schools a long time ago. Buena Vista is a township to the east of Saginaw and some parts of it are as bad as the city of Saginaw, the rest of it east of Towerline is mainly a rural area. The population in 2010 was 8,676 for the entire township and it's a poorly ran township anyways.

[Scottathew]

This is good news. If a small little school district can't be efficient enough to run, MERGE IT.

Other states do K12 schools at a county level, which is much more efficient. Allowing these small failing districts also creates a situation where certain areas have children that are under-served compaired to a house that's on another side of an imaginary boundary.

[Wesley Mouch]

Either I'm missing something, or your sarcasm is wearing sunglasses today. What failure do you speak of? The only thing I found was an underfunded organization/public entity, which is rampant in our country these days; from individuals to cities to states...... wtf is new here?

Ain't nobody got the jobs to pay the taxes...... pretty simple shit iyam.

You are right. My sarcasm was wearing sunglasses yesterday.

I do think school funding is broken -- but the problem in these little districts isn't money. Its power.

If the district is having financial problems, they might put the students ahead of themselves and dissolve the district themselves. That would be leadership. Instead, they prefer power.

The failure is a failure of leadership. Hanging onto power rather than leading students to success -- even if it costs them their own jobs and dissolution of their little district that spent too much on things other than education of students.

[Hermod]

The origin of the small school districts dates back to when there were no school buses. they were perpetuated by their hierarchies.

[Novine]

"This is good news. If a small little school district can't be efficient enough to run, MERGE IT."

The reality is that most of the districts that are in trouble aren't the small, rural districts around the state. They've managed to figure out how to get by on less for decades. If you're looking for layers of bureaucracy where money isn't going into the classroom, it's not in those districts. The idea that consolidating all those districts is going to result in huge savings is an idea that isn't based on real numbers.

[Wesley Mouch]

"This is good news. If a small little school district can't be efficient enough to run, MERGE IT."

The reality is that most of the districts that are in trouble aren't the small, rural districts around the state. They've managed to figure out how to get by on less for decades. If you're looking for layers of bureaucracy where money isn't going into the classroom, it's not in those districts. The idea that consolidating all those districts is going to result in huge savings is an idea that isn't based on real numbers.

So then what is the problem? Hasn't per pupil school funding increased dramatically faster than inflation?

[Novine]

The problem isn't in those districts. Buena Vista isn't representative of the districts in financial trouble - try Pontiac, Detroit, Taylor, Dearborn Heights and Southgate, among others.

[Johnnny5]

Hasn't per pupil school funding increased dramatically faster than inflation?

Not even close. Here's a few links to show how the funding has been reduced. Also keep in mind that many districts are experiencing a decline in enrollment which means not only are they receiving less per pupil, but also they have less students. While there are some savings with fewer students many costs are fixed as you still have buildings to maintain, buses that are filled to less than capacity, etc.
Also, many of the operating costs for schools have increased at a rate that far outpaced inflation. Health care costs for employees, fuel costs for transportation and more expensive diesel buses due to environmental laws, etc.

http://edwp.educ.msu.edu/new-educato...lty-viewpoint/

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/D...ionHistory.pdf

[brizee]

There was a blurb about this on the radio this week that I'm hoping those in the know can confirm or deny.

The way schools used to borrow money was the state used its huge influence and bargaining to borrow money at agreeable rates and then gave it to the district [[much like that shady DPS/EAA deal).

However Snyder/Lansing Tea Party decided that each individual school district would be required to borrow money on their own without the bargaining power of a state. This more than anything helped contribute to these school districts deaths.

Does anyone know anymore?

It makes sense. And it sounds like something Snyder would do.

But I don't want to just parrot it.

What sounds like the obvious truth is not the same as the truth.

[compn]

Imagine Bloomfield Hills being forced to take 25% of Pontiac district. It could happen, and very soon.

you know exactly what happens.
poor kids in the pool? affluent parents take their kids to the private pool.
then the public schools get unfunded.
then the state shuts down the public schools.
then the kids are put in other public schools.
the cycle must continue.
we must never learn from history!

[Gistok]

I wonder what Dearborn schools think about next year's inclusion of Inkster students.

Just wait until Pontiac fails. That district is on the verge of evaporation, and bordered by numerous affluent districts. Imagine Bloomfield Hills being forced to take 25% of Pontiac district. It could happen, and very soon.

And, of course, the big one is Detroit. If DPS ever goes under, it will absolutely rock the property values in surrounding areas.

Yeah, that's right... all the Detroit students will then be sent by the tens of thousands to schools in the nearby suburbs, who will be forced to take them or else... even if it means building additional schools, while Detroit schools remain empty.....

... where do you come up with this stuff so far removed from reality??

[compn]

if you cant kill the school union, kill the school.
finally figured out how to bust the unions.

[Bham1982]

Yeah, that's right... all the Detroit students will then be sent by the tens of thousands to schools in the nearby suburbs, who will be forced to take them or else... even if it means building additional schools, while Detroit schools remain empty.....

... where do you come up with this stuff so far removed from reality??

I would wager that currently tens of thousands of Detroit students attend schools outside of Detroit. Ever heard of school choice? Charters? Why do you think this would no longer be the case? And re. space utilization is a separate matter, and not related to whether or not suburbs will have to take on Detroit students [[just as with Inkster, where Dearborn and other surrounding districts will take on Inkster students; whether they utilize Dearborn buildings or Inkster buildings isn't really the key point; the point is there is no Inkster anymore' it's all the responsibility of adjacent districts).

[Danny]

At least Garden City Public Schools will NOT accept Inktown Kids! However due to school of choice law that may have to accept them. Here comes post-modern integration.