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State may cut additional
$127 per-pupil from RCS

Shortfall in School Aid budget
requires statewide proration

by CHRIS GRAY
Observer Staff Writer

      Despite planning for revenue shortfall, Romeo Community Schools (RCS) may still see a sizable chunk taken out of its budget.
       The latest reports from Lansing have revealed that school districts may see an additional $127 cut to their per-pupil revenue, causing more deficits that could result in further cuts.
       Though a budget was signed for School Aid, the state treasurer informed the governor on Oct. 22 that the fund was short by $212 million. Unless legislators can come up with a way to make up that lost revenue by Nov. 21, districts around the state will have their funding cut via proration.
       The state already approved of a $165 per-pupil cut, or a $923,992 loss for RCS. The district handled the majority of this loss back in June by budgeting for a $150 per-pupil loss. RCS is estimated to have a 5,600 student count for 2009-10.
       However, the unaccounted $15 per-pupil combined with this new $127 per-pupil cut would mean an estimated $850,000 loss to the district.
       "There is the outside possibility of the state finding revenue, but I don't see how that will happen," said Mike Dixon, RCS interim business director. "It'll be a hit-and-miss battle."
       The loss is not a reduction in foundation allowance, but rather a reduction in the district's total state aid payment.
       RCS has already been dealing with a $2.8 million deficit for its 2009-10 budget, with cuts ranging from job losses to the closing of Croswell Elementary.
       The lost $850,000 would equate to the same amount of concessions the local American Federal, State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) group took in August in lieu of losing more than 30 custodial jobs to outsourcing.
       With 87 percent of the district's budget dedicated to benefits and salaries, employee groups will most likely be approached to take concessions in order to combat the shortage of revenue.
       "The board is giving us direction in negotiations to keep things as tight as we can," said Dixon.
       According to the House Fiscal Agency, the $212 million shortfall would also target $8.7 million in payments to Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) as well as $1.6 million in payments to non-district entities.
       The agency reports Section 11 of the School Aid Act states that if appropriations exceed the amount available for expenditure from the school aid fund, the state must prorate districts and ISDs to handle the shortfall.