Just this fall, IPR highlighted Suttons Bay Public Schools as a district that has used creative budgeting, online programs and fundraisers to remain solvent.
But one of those solutions backfired this year.
A large number of students enrolled in online programs didn’t show up, at least not at the right time.
Now hundreds-of-thousands of dollars have to be shaved from the Suttons Bay budget. Teachers will take an immediate five-percent pay cut. A few have even agreed to retire mid-year.
We asked Suttons Bay Board Member Roger Merriman to explain what went wrong.