Level the Playing Field
OPEN FORUM MAY 16, 2012
On May 16, Superintendent Murray gave an update, thanking the community for raising almost $600,000 to balance our budget and explaining our plans that are already working to insure our future. Here is the video recording of that presentation - please advance to the 6 minute mark for the beginning of the presentation.
OPEN FORUM JANUARY 18, 2012
Here is Superintendent Murray's letter to District residents that explains our circumstances and asks for financial support; please click HERE to see the letter.
To see a video of the January 18 Community Forum, please run the following video:
Here the slides from Superintendent Murray's presentation. Please click HERE to see the slides. You may want the slides open in one window and the presentation open in another window.
At the Forum, Superintendent Murray asked those present to complete a Forced Pair Analysis (to choose between two alternatives, to help set priorities.) HERE are the results of that analysis.
At the Forum, Superintendent Murray presented information about the Business Plan to correct our financial situation; here is the detailed PLAN.
If you would like to write a letter to Governor Snyder to tell him about our financial circumstances and the unequal playing field that we must use, a draft letter has been prepared and please click HERE to get the TXT version of the letter or click HERE for the DOC version.
At the meeting, Superintendent Murray covered all of the wonderful programs that we offer with our limited resources. He covered all of the budget reductions that we have already put in place. He reviewed the state's funding of public schools. We are looking for ways to level the financial playing field. If you live in Suttons Bay or Bingham Township, our school district will be mailing you some information;a donor form will be included. We need you help and dollars to help us level the playing field with other districts. We need $551,000. Our staff have pledged $55,000! At the forum, $23,000 was raised and since then about $83,000 more has been raised. The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians donated $180,000! We have also cut staffing, saving $60,000. We have sold our playing fields to the Village of Suttons Bay and immediately leased them back, providing us $240,000; this more than balanced our budget for 2011-2012 as we end the school year with a positive fund balance of over $300,000 . If you would like to help our Schools, please click HERE to download a copy of the form.
