{"id":1174,"date":"2011-05-26T09:29:24","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T14:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/?p=1174"},"modified":"2011-12-13T08:24:52","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T13:24:52","slug":"teachers-take-a-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/05\/teachers-take-a-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers take a stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kelsey Baak
\n<\/strong>managing feature<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Since March, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed major cuts for the state budget in the area of K-12 schools. The $340 per pupil reduction will be moved to the School Aid Fund which will help pay for community colleges and universities. This goes against Proposal A, a 1994 Michigan State Constitutional Amendment that gives money to K-12 schools. Without this money, public schools have the potential of going into financial crisis. Over $1.8 billion still needs to be cut in order for the 2011-12 fiscal year state budget to be balanced. Snyder is doing anything he can to make ends meet. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of feel that [taking money from Proposal A] is illegal because there is a law on the books,\u201d teacher and DHS teacher union representative Jason Gehoksi said. \u201cAnd he [Snyder] is projecting to do something you can\u2019t do because of the other law. His budget is breaking the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

By being in a financial crisis, the state can appoint an emergency manager for each school district as they see fit. This financial manager will have the power to take control of school board and make choices for the school districts that they control.<\/p>\n

This financial crisis would be deemed by the state allowing for emergency action to take place. <\/p>\n

\u201cBy creating a crisis, it allows the state to intervene and does what it wants to do to individual school districts and can\u2019t do unless there is a crisis,\u201d history teacher Ric Shahin said.<\/p>\n

The amount of money that the government will be taking from K-12 school districts will likely put some districts into a position of financial crisis, thereby exposing them to being taken over by emergency financial managers.<\/p>\n

Many teachers are uncertain about where they will stand next year since major cuts will be made to the district. Teachers now have to recalculate their salaries to figure out how much they will be losing with the new cuts that are proposed. Adding to this, teachers will have to pay about 20 percent of their health care premiums. According to Senate Resolution B a five percent cut in pay checks will take place for all state employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a big chunk of change for a teacher [to lose],\u201d Gehoski said.<\/p>\n

Originally, teachers were told that they would find out from the district the number of full time employees that were needed next school year in the beginning of April, which would give teachers an idea of how secure their jobs are. The deadline has now been pushed back to mid to late May. This leaves the potential for a number of teachers to be laid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperiencing being laid off once because of last year, it puts me on edge a little bit more,\u201d Yearbook and Journalism adviser Cammie Hall said.<\/p>\n

This uncertainty has caused stress and worry for teachers inside DHS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m anxious for myself and anybody else,\u201d Hall said. \u201cIt\u2019s this limbo. You can\u2019t make decisions. You don\u2019t feel secure anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this sense of insecurity continues, some feel that teaching is not an advisable career path. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had a child who wanted to go into education now, I would be heavily discouraging them,\u201d Shahin said. \u201cThe trend is not helpful of future teacher\u2019s careers in the state of Michigan right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

How it will affect the kids<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only are these cuts affecting the teachers, but could possibly have a much larger effect on the students of Michigan in the future. <\/p>\n

As the Update went to press, there was a meeting where the administration presented a list of possible things that could be cut. From there, the board will make decisions from that list. <\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much anything could be cut,\u201d MPS Finance Director Linda Cline said in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n

By \u201canything\u201d Cline was referring to transportation, athletics, teachers and funding to departments across the district. Class sizes may also increase, Cline said.<\/p>\n

In addition, Snyder\u2019s cuts mean there is a chance that students will be discouraged from attending state schools. With Snyder taking money from K-12 funding and joining it together with university and community college funding, prices will be raised at the state schools, changing the dynamics of colleges in Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect that funding for the 2011-12 school year will look fairly close to what the Governor has proposed,\u201d Cline said.
\nSchool districts will have to re-evaluate the courses they offer to see what is truly needed in the education of a child and what can be afforded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stuff could damage our student\u2019s education catastrophically,\u201d Shahin said.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/strong><\/p>\n

With all the changes happening in less than a year, students, teachers and citizens are still trying to figure out how these changes will affect them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with fast legislation is it is usually bad legislation,\u201d Shahin said. \u201cWhy would you write legislation so broad that you could damage the education of children in areas that are actually working fairly well?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor’s legislation causes major concerns not only for teachers, but students too<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,55,34,56],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-news","tag-dow-high-news","tag-national-news","tag-news-stories","tag-tri-cities-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTeachers take a stand - UPDATE ONLINE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/05\/teachers-take-a-stand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teachers take a stand - UPDATE ONLINE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Governor's legislation causes major concerns not only for teachers, but students too\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/05\/teachers-take-a-stand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UPDATE ONLINE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DHSUpdate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-26T14:29:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-13T13:24:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Update\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DowHighUpdate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DowHighUpdate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Update\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Update\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be39f258dafaaac3e98f5951fe5e9198\"},\"headline\":\"Teachers take a stand\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-26T14:29:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-13T13:24:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Dow High News\",\"National News\",\"News Stories\",\"Tri-Cities News\"],\"articleSection\":[\"NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/\",\"name\":\"Teachers take a stand - UPDATE ONLINE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-26T14:29:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-13T13:24:52+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/05\\\/teachers-take-a-stand\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"UPDATE ONLINE\",\"description\":\"H.H. 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