Pontiac School District Now that Gov. Rick Snyder’s financial review team has determined the Pontiac district is in a financial emergency, school officials are waiting to see if he put trustees on the path to deciding if students will be better off under an emergency manager. Under the new emergency manager law, Snyder must decide within 10 days of the report’s release Friday whether to confirm the finding of the team of experts he appointed just over 30 days ago. Assuming Snyder confirms the report and does not ask for a hearing, the Pontiac Board of Education will be required to vote for an emergency manager to take over operations, or select one of three other options: Chapter 9 bankruptcy, consent agreement or mediation. “We are technically fighting for our lives and fighting to keep the doors open,” Board President Caroll Turpin told the audience at Monday night’s school board meeting, where Interim Superintendent Kelley Williams told worried employees in the audience that they will have a paycheck this week. Turpin said school officials have been meeting with the state and trying to do whatever they can to maintain local control and avoid a financial manager. If the board selected the emergency manager option, the district would be placed in receivership. Immediately upon the appointment of an EM, the board and its president would be prohibited from exercising any powers without written approval of the EM. They also would lose their compensation and benefits. Which option the board would go with has not been decided, Turpin said. If Snyder confirms the team’s findings, “that’s a discussion the board will have. We will have to look at the options,” Turpin said Monday. The governor reviewed the report and had questions over the weekend, said Sara Wurfel, press secretary for Snyder’s office. But she did not know when he would make his determination, but expected it to be soon. If Snyder does confirm the review team’s report, Pontiac schools trustees can appeal the finding of the district’s “financial emergency” to the Ingham County Circuit Court. Asked what he would recommend to the board, Robert Moore, deputy superintendent of finance for Oakland Schools intermediate district said, “It would be inappropriate to comment on this important decision, which is assigned by law to an elected school board.” Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch said she has heard of no move on the part of legislators to allow the intermediate district to take over operation of Pontiac schools. Whatever selection the board makes is unlikely to affect the opening of the school year. The district had a deficit of $37.7 million at the end of 2012, is $33 million behind in payments to vendors, owes $4.2 million to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System, owes more than $3 million to cover employee health insurance and owes $7.5 million from a loan from the state. The deadline for the $7.5 million owed to the state is Aug. 20 and Terry Stanton, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Treasury, said in an email Monday that “the district’s 2012 note will be repaid.” Oakland County Treasurer Andy Dillon said last week he is working with school and state officials to help keep the district operating to provide an education for the district’s children. Dillon, who praised some of the district’s programs, recently said difficult decisions will be required, but he thinks state aid will keep Pontiac schools operating. Interim Superintendent Kelley Williams announced last week that the district plans to operate the popular International Technology Academy in its own building. Beginning in the fall, it will move from Pontiac Middle School to the former Whitman Elementary. Also, ninth graders will remain at middle school instead of moving on to high school in a move to improve learning; First Robotics will continue; and Alcott Elementary will become an official STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) school. School officials are hoping that plans to keep and expand those popular programs will bring back even more of the district’s students from the growing number of charter schools and other school districts. An increase in enrollment will bring more state aid to stabilize the district financially.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 11:40:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015