WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Superintendents from St. Joseph County’s nine public school districts have issued a media release regarding state lawmakers’ failure to pass a budget.
St. Joseph County Intermediate School District Superintendent Teresa Belote shared the release late Friday. It is addressed to families with children in St. Joseph County’s public schools as well as school district staff members.
Belote said the ISD and the county’s school districts have been fielding questions about the fate of programming, services, free lunch programs and day-to-day operations if a budget is not approved on or before Sept. 30 – the end of the state’s current fiscal year.
State law mandates Michigan’s budget must be passed on or before July 1, but its leaders have failed to do so. The impasse has raised concerns about school districts’ ability to plan and operate with certainty, Belote said.
The county’s superintendents said even though school districts are through one-sixth of their fiscal year, there is still no way of knowing if their budgets – customarily built on projections – will cover expenses.
The challenge as school leaders is how to make decisions in the absence of funding guarantees, superintendents said, noting they have a commitment to be fiscally responsible. In the absence of information regarding funding, however, district leaders said they are in a challenging position.
State funding allows school districts to keep reasonable class sizes and student support services, maintain bus operations, fund academic programs and enrichment opportunities such as athletics and the arts, and compensate teachers and staff.
County superintendents ask that parents with concerns regarding the possibility of ending free-lunch programming, weighted funding for students with special needs, or potential cuts to career technical education, to contact state lawmakers.
St. Joseph County’s state representative is Steve Carra and its state senator is Jonathan Lindsey.
