Schools in Iron County

We have two school districts here in Iron County,
Michigan. At one time, when transportation was
much slower, and therefore more difficult, we
had more, but consolidation of schools seems to
have arrested just in time that we are presently
stuck with two, along with a continuously
declining population. Unfortunately the official
census numbers for 2010 are not available as
yet, but the estimates we have predict a poor
future for us.

The State of Michigan has published an outlook
for population. Beginning in 2000, we had13,138
souls living here. By 2009 the official estimate
was 11,633, a decline of about 12%. We
experienced a corresponding decrease in student
population for the same period. The West Iron
School District has closed one school and
eliminated at least those programs that the new
Windsor Center says they’ve taken over and are
requesting tax money to fund. In a way, the
school district “mined” the middle school as an
asset by putting off replacing the entire roof on
schedule because they knew they were divesting
themselves of the building. Similarly other
maintenance was avoided or minimized, yielding
some financial advantage to the school district.

That school building was erected in 1929,
providing maintenance issues that will eventually
demand its demise.

Looking at the realities, population has declined,
but the amount of property in Iron County has
remained the same, ergo, the tax base providing
funding our school districts has not experienced
a corresponding decrease. In short, the West
Iron School District has fewer students, fewer
teachers, one less building, and has cut some
after school programs, while having essentially
the same property tax based income.

Shouldn’t our school taxes be reduced since
costs have been dropping? If West Iron School
District had a total student population of 1,
what would happen to our school taxes? Exactly
when do the savings due to a consistently falling
student population, along with a reduction in
services, get reflected in our taxes? Could this
school district justify school taxes if there were
no students at all?

In the past few days, Associate Editor Ben Smith
brought House Bill 4214 to our attention.

“Introduced by Rep. Al Pscholka (R) on February
9, 2011, to add to the conditions that can trigger
the appointment of an Emergency Financial
Manager for fiscally failing municipalities and
school districts, and greatly enhance the powers
of EFMs. They would have the power to cancel
or amend existing government or school
employee union collective bargaining
agreements and other contracts. School EFMs
would have authority over academic matters.
An EFM could also order new borrowing, or put
a property tax millage increase on the ballot.“

http://michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=131260

It is clear that some sort of parachute must be
in place to manage those taxing public bodies
that are failing. Instead of flatly embracing this
bill as the republicans are, or issuing a blanket
condemnation as the democrats have been, it
appears that some elements of the bill are
appropriate. The balance of the bill should be
the subject of negotiation, with significant input
from those whose business is education. The
first time the state thinks the solution to
resurrecting a failing school district is by
voiding contracts we will be in for the ride of a
lifetime involving the three branches of
government, executive, legislative, and
judicial. The resulting lawsuits wind their way
all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Here, in Iron County, we’re doing ourselves a
significant fiscal disservice by maintaining that
artificial East vs. West “better than thou”
dispute that’s gone on beginning at the
establishment of the county. Iron County has
seen the school consolidation many times
before. It is already several decades past the
time that the final consolidation should have
been done, and we should have a single school
district for the entire county.

It won't be a very big school district either!

All that needs to be done initially is the
consolidation into a single administrative arm
running all our schools, with one school board,
initially consisting of all the currently elected
members from both. Eventually the size of
the school board must be reduced to a more
manageable size. That final school board, as
the elected representatives of the people of
Iron County, should be the ones ultimately
making all the decisions about closing buildings
and divesting the responsibility for them.

The situation that exists here in Iron County,
with two school districts for a total population
of less than 12,000 souls, is absurd. It needs to
be fixed. Ultimately, school taxes could probably
be cut by 1/3 without impacting the quality of
the education that the children are receiving.

In fact, less focus on administration means
more attention could be given to the quality
of education.

Here, in Iron County, we are probably far
away from having an “Emergency Financial
Manager” come waltzing in to take over
either of our school districts. Still, we are
very far away from the sort of fiscal
responsibility we’re entitled to.

But it is up to the voting residents of the
county to force such changes.

What’s that going to take?

Bill Vajk