education funding

Traverse City Area Public Schools will pay back $707,000 to the state over allegedly miscalculated student enrollment, but they could have to give back more money.

The Michigan Department of Education says TCAPS may have miscalculated enrollment in at least two other semesters.

Traverse City Area Public Schools will have to pay back over $700,000 to the state over allegedly misreported student enrollment.

Update 12/12/16: The board for Traverse City Area Public Schools votes to redistrict Old Mission Peninsula, sending public schools students on the peninsula to Eastern Elementary School in the fall of 2018. At that time, TCAPS will stop running Old Mission Peninsula School.

Public school students on Old Mission Peninsula will likely go to Eastern Elementary School beginning in fall 2018. Officials for Traverse City Area Public Schools could decide Monday whether to formally redistrict those students to Eastern Elementary School.

A workgroup of lawmakers and educators is using the Legislature’s summer recess to try to develop an “early warning” for schools in financial trouble.

A year ago, two small Michigan school districts, Inkster and Buena Vista, were dissolved because they had run out of money.

State Senator Howard Walker (R-Traverse City) leads the workgroup. Walker says his goal is to create an “early warning” system that would allow the state to step in more quickly when a district shows signs of financial stress.

There’s a plan in the state Senate to keep more Michigan schools from falling into financial emergencies. Supporters say it would create an early warning system for cash-strapped districts.

Teachers in Traverse City have begun an advertising campaign over their union contract. The Traverse City Education Association hopes to sway public support, as negotiations continue with Traverse City Area Public Schools.

The union recently paid for a full page ad in the Traverse City Record-Eagle (pictured right). This week, those listening to a couple of select commercial radio stations could hear the voice of association President Jeff  Leonhardt.

Gov. Rick Snyder wants to increase per-student funding for schools by 3 percent in the budget for next fiscal year. But schools could actually end up getting more than that.

A state Senate panel on Wednesday approved an increase ranging between $150 and $300 dollars per student. Snyder recommended an increase between $83 and $111.

The plan would get rid of a number of grants and give that money back to schools without strings attached through the per-pupil allowance.

This story continues our summer series looking back over the last 50 years in northern Michigan as we celebrate IPR’s birthday.

Few events reverberated as loudly as a decision made in Kalkaska in 1993. Then, as now, public schools were making cuts to get by. But Kalkaska decided it would be better to close early than do without band, buses and art. The decision sparked dramatic change in the way schools are funded in Michigan.

School districts across Michigan are making cuts again as lean times continue for public education.

Yet this week also marks the anniversary of a revolution in education that started in Kalkaska. Twenty years ago, Kalkaska Public Schools started their summer vacation in March. It was a protest against cutting more programs to stay open.

The decision led to dramatic change in the way schools are funded in Michigan. But now there’s a feeling that schools are back where they started.