school funding in FHPS and EGRPS | GRMiRealEstate's Weblog

We are on the front lines of property values and were well aware this day

would come. We have seen property values fall from 15-30% in the past

3 years for local communities. ( Read our Blog post about home values)

The effects of this devaluation still has shock value for many living in

our local areas. We have watched poorer school districts struggle to

allocate funding with the financial news from Lansing being dire and

changing constantly. It has now started to hit our more affluent areas

and these parents are confused and angry.

See comments on this Mlive article about East Grand Rapids cutting their
budget with more cuts to come.

We attended the Forest Hills Superintendant’s meeting last fall about

a $10 million dollar projected shortfall in their 2010-2011 school budget.

They are not getting any definite answers from the state on what cuts

will be until after they set their annual budget ( This is truly bizarre but

the state government runs its own show).

Both East Grand Rapids and Forest Hills have fixed costs because of

teacher and staff contracts. Our understanding is that these are about

70% of the budget in Forest Hills. [See FHPS Funding Facts } Dan Behm,

the Forest Hills Superintendant told our group of concerned citizens

that if he eliminated transportation and sports, that there would

still be $3 million shortfall and he would have to look for another job

because of angry parents.

We don’t offer any solutions, but we do need to look at all items on

the budget. Nothing is sacrosanct, not teacher salaries, retirement

or healthcare. The same belt-tightening and elimination of non-essential

items that has affected business and personal budgets for the last 3 years

and longer in the state of Michigan is reducing funds for public services

in our state.

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FHPS Funding Facts

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The authors of the this blog write about Grand Rapids Real Estate, the Greater Grand Rapids MI area, and what it is like to live in West Michigan. Grand Rapids Michigan is a vibrant, growing metropolitan area with a diverse business community, great medical research & services, numerous universities,plus lively arts and entertainment of all kinds.

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