Novi Superintendent: Cuts Exceed Increases in School Funding
(Novi Superintendent Steve Matthews, Feb. 19, 2015)
To my fellow Michigan Superintendents,
Most of you don’t like me.
Not “me” as a person. I have been told I am quite like able.
You don’t like the “Novi Superintendent” me. I represent a district that has many advantages. We have a sinking fund, a recreation millage, and a recently passed capital projects bond. We have a community that is adding housing stock so our enrollment is expected to grow.
But more importantly what you don’t like is that my district receives $8,630 per student. Technically for the 2014-2015 school year I received $8,409. But we earned a performance funding bonus from the state because of our student test scores. That equaled $70 per pupil last year. Then we earned the best practice bonus from the state of $50 per pupil last year for meeting the state identified school district best practices. We also received 20f Hold Harmless funds of $16 per student.
All of us received a retirement offset from the state. In Novi, it amounted to $83 per student.
So you add it all up and there it is $8,630 per student:

I know many, in fact most, of you receive far less.
So when I speak out against the Governor’s 15-16 school budget you will probably not be too sympathetic.
After all, who cares if one of the “fat cats,” one of the “rich” school districts receives less state aid. If the district you represent receives more at the expense of one of the “well-funded” districts, so be it.
I would urge you to reconsider.
The Governor says my district will receive a $75 per pupil increase next year.
My district – like yours – spends the money it receives. We are not hoarding it, we are not saving it, we are not being frivolous with our revenue.
As Exhibit A: I give you this example.
Our step one, first-year starting teacher’s salary is $39,581. Teachers hired in our district at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, have never received that salary.

The first year in my district there was an off-schedule (meaning it would not carry over to the next year) salary cut of 1.3%. The salary was reduced from $39,581 to $39,052.
The next year, that first-year teacher’s salary reverted to the written step one contractual amount but through negotiations everyone received a 1/2% on-schedule pay cut. So that teacher now in their second year received a salary less than the step one salary listed in the contract. The salary was $39,383 instead of $39,581. The second-year teacher again did not receive what our contract stated was the first-year teacher’s salary.
Finally, this year – for the teacher hired in 2012-13 who was in her third year in the district – surely that teacher would receive what was supposed to be the starting salary from three years ago. Alas, no. The salary was frozen at the $39,383 level except for an off-schedule one-time payment.
So this teacher who entered the profession eager and ready to help our students has not received a salary increase in three years and has in fact received less than the contractual step one amount all three years.
This is not how you attract young talent to the profession.
We have a fund balance that hovers just over 10%.
We have kept it there by making cuts in salaries, as noted above. We have also frozen and cut secretary and aide hourly wages. Administrators have also been frozen and cut over the last three years.
We are trying to be responsible but it is coming on the backs of our employees.
Our K-4 class size average is approximately 22. We have four specials at the elementary level – music, physical education, art, and media center. We have an orchestra, band, and choir starting in 5th grade. We have AP and IB at our high school. We teach five foreign languages.
Our tennis team won the Division I state tennis title. Our volleyball team was the Division I runner-up. Our marching band was fifth in the state. Our middle school orchestra was invited to play at the Michigan Music Conference. Our robotics team qualified for the world championship. Our cross-country team was academic all state.
We have a comprehensive community school district.
Yet, next year while the Governor says he will boost per pupil funding by $75 per student he has also proposed to take away performance based funding ($70 per pupil in my district) and reduce best practice funding (a reduction of $30 per pupil in my district). The end result is that my district will receive $25 less per student or a total reduction of $161,000 dollars.
While, in jest, I suggested that most of you don’t like me, the truth is that if the Governor cannot balance his budget by cutting schools like mine he will start to cut schools like yours.
Public schools that provide a comprehensive education for the students in communities all across Michigan are threatened by Governor Snyder’s budget proposal. It is not just my school district.
It is up to Michigan superintendents to communicate to their communities, to the legislator, and to the Governor that public education should be a priority. The students in our school districts deserve much better than this proposal from Governor Snyder.
Very sincerely yours,
(The like able) Steve
For more blog posts by Steve Matthews see www.novisuperintendent.blogspot.com
Also check out our recent article about Novi High School GSA: http://oaklandcounty115.com/2015/02/08/sogi-story-1-the-growth-of-the-novi-gsa-video/.