Community Conversation – December 14th
Dec 13th, 2009 by Scot Graden
SAS Community,
I’m writing to invite you to a financial “Community Conversation” in the Liberty School Auditorium from 6:30-8:00 p.m. this Monday, December 14th. We have begun the process of assessing the ramifications of our current shortfall and and taking steps to remedy the issue.
At the December 8th Board of Education meeting we continued discussing options for reducing the current year deficit of $2.0 million and the projected $3.4 million shortfall in the 2010-2011 school year. The discussion included $325,000 in non-staff reductions. We are continuing to evaluate our options to reduce the combined $5.4 million projected shortfall and the need for mid-year staff reductions.
I will give additional information and open the dialogue to you at Monday’s “Community Conversation.” I look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you,
Scot Graden
Mr. Graden,
Thank you for the “Community Conversation” tonight. It was informative and I hope that you and the board’s efforts to move the district forward are successful. When I got home this evening, I saw a news report on WXYZ-7 detailing the difficulties and massive cuts being made all over the metro Detroit area. I’d like to reiterate the point I made at the meeting, and commented on by the Superintendent of Livonia Schools, that the solutions to the school funding problem lies in Lansing, and their mishandling of School Aid funds and budget deadlines have caused the crisis that all districts find themselves in. We can work to be fiscally responsible, but with the lack of leadership in Lansing, it’s a futile effort.