Welcome to Republican rule...take the money from the kids, poor and elderly and shift it to the corporations. Talk about wealth redistribution...All the corporations do is find a way to keep more for themselves. Shame on all the Democrats who stayed home this election cycle.

Yes, welcome to Republican rule!
Thank you to our Republican leadership who's willing to make the hard, sometimes unpopular decisions in order to right the wrongs of the past Democrat administrations. No one wants to see the elderly or children suffer, but we've got to realize that THERE IS NO MORE MONEY! Do you realize that if the Plymouth-Canton teacher's union simply agreed to pay a modest portion of their health insurance premiums and to fund a portion of their own retirement funds (just as nearly every other working person does) the savings would offset ALL of the funding reduction which this article details?

Im sure those modest portions would amount to 17 million. Give me a break. Snyder is taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Think thoses taxes on seniors and take backs from the poor are going to the reduce the deficit? Nope. Going to fund business tax breaks.

The teacher concessions would cover half of the projected deficit. More specifically, they would cover the $470/pupil (8.8M) reduction. This is a point Snyder made when he announced the funding reduction. It's my error that I wasn't more specific in my earlier posting. Nonetheless 'the dude', if you're so certain that higher taxes are the answer then why don't you put your money where your mouth is. Get out your checkbook and stroke a check to the State of Michigan - I'm certain they'll accept it. No one's stopping YOU from paying more taxes.

So you would rather have schools close, teachers getting laid off, and bigger class sizes. Is this Plymouth or Detroit?? Snyder decided we dont need the 8 million the state gave us. Its all in his grand plan. PCCS eventually goes bankrupt, an emergency auditor comes in and tosses out all contracts and the school board, and Snyder puts in his guy to run the ship.

Only thing I am writing a check to is a moving company. This state is going nowhere.

Don't you get it? The point is that concessions on the part of ALL of the interested parties can stave off school closures and layoffs. We're all in this together whether we like it or not. No one can be immune. Where you got the idea that the state 'gave' the district 8M and then took it away, I don't know. Seems to me the unfortunate truth is that the district is getting 8M less than last year. Surely, I don't think it's a good thing, but it's a reality of the economic situation we all face. There's only so much money to go around. Non essentials have to be cut alltogether, and the rest are going to have to make-do with less. My family is making do with less and I'd certainly believe you if you told me you were doing the same. My final point is that the teacher's union has got to see the reality of the situation at hand. They could give what you yourself called 'modest' concessions and we'd be a lot closer to closing the budget gap. If the teachers don't give something, the students will take the full brunt of the inevitable cuts.

Snyders budget takes away 8 million that the district previously had and counted on. Didnt you read the story. He is now taking it away, thus doubling the deficit. Modest is your word, along with portion. Both mean a small amount. No way they can cut and get 17 million as a result. If you truly believe we are all sharing the pain in this then I feel very sorry for you.

The bottom line is that the money is not there and the cuts are going to happen. There are a multitude of reasons we (and many states) are in this position, not the least of which is that poor decisions are made when times are good and thinking that they will last forever. That said, bringing public employees, including the teacher's union, in line with what all private employees pay for their benefits and health care is a good start and will go a long way in offsetting the current cuts. Nothing against the teachers, it is just an alignment based on the facts of life as they exist today. The crux of the matter is as Wink says - school scan no longer operate in a "business as usual" fashion. If you have had any involvement with the Park in the last few years, you cannot honestly say that there are opportunitities to try different approaches and bring a business mentality to how we can more efficiently and effectively operate our schools. And on a final note "the dude" doesn't matter to this conversation as he is moving out of the state anyway. Write the moving van check, dude.

Although I have been retired from teaching for a few years, I can imagine what might be going through the minds of practicing Michigan teachers right now, especially those who have devoted a number of years in the profession and who get positive feedback from students, parents and administrators. Would these teachers want to leave the profession while they are still young enough to get into the business world and make up for the loss of salary and benefits? Would many teachers be able to afford to buy the materials and supplies necessary to manage a classroom of young people in the way that has become accepted by the community? Would they be able to volunteer to sponsor extracurricular activities on a regular basis if an extra job at night and the weekends would be needed to feed a family? If so, would fewer quality assignments be graded at night and over the weekends? Would teachers be able to afford tuition to take graduate classes to maintain their teaching certificate? Would young people considering the teaching profession want to even consider being a teacher in Michigan?
Leaving the profession is always difficult for devoted and accomplished teachers. Perhaps many of these teachers will find a welcome in another place outside of Michigan in the very near future.

this is going to get ugly

I for one cannot wait to vote out the 4 union backed board members (gang of four), and take back the school district to the rightful owners (parents and tax payers). These ego centric opportunists have one thing on their mind, and that is their own self centered interests. They make their decesions and decide how their going to vote before meetings. The principal who was removed from Smith Elementary last year by Dr. Fiegel has been returned as principal to Tonda Elementary by the current administration. Once again, there was no notice to families affected and no opportunity or consideration of public opinion. Same goes for why they terminated Dr. Feigel's contract. The board is sworn in to represent the people they serve, by operating with transparency and accountability in resolving conflict. These four members have done none of this. They have failed us, and are taking the whole district down with their deplorable sense of arrogance and entitlement. Make it easy come November. Figure out who the union backed candidates are, and vote for anyone but them!

This is the comment from Park Parent: "Bringing public employees, including the teacher's union, in line with what all private employees pay for their benefits and health care is a good start and will go a long way in offsetting the current cuts." I'm sure the teachers would be more than happy to have their benefits and health care brought in line with private employees if their work hours, work conditions, and paychecks were also brought in line with private employees’. Someone with a Master's degree from the University of Michigan who was a National Merit Scholar and straight A student, who works 65-80 hours a week in a demanding job, who has to purchase her own printer, toner, paper, and supplies in order to do her job, should at least get paid comparably to employees in corporations. Don't talk about "breaks" and "summers off." The hours of a full time high school teacher, averaged over 52 weeks, would equate to 55+ hours a week. Instead, a teacher's evenings, weekends, and breaks throughout the year are like a perpetual final exam week in college, and the hours of grading and prep increase as class sizes increase (a full time teacher at the Park has 30+ more students now than she had ten years ago). Do you remember what final exam week felt like? It would take you 6-8 weeks to recover after 42 weeks at that level of intensity, too. Also, don't forget that you need to take graduate credits during those "weeks off" and pay for them yourself.

Teachers work just as hard as people in other professions, are just as capable, and clearly care more than most about making the world a better place. Until there is parity in pay, work conditions, and resources, benefits are one of the few perqs of being a teacher. What kind of teachers do we want? If we want good ones, we need to compensate them for what they are worth. That logic always seems to make sense when paying CEOs, basketball players, rock stars, and actors (not to mention engineers and doctors). I believe we devalue teachers because we don't value children or "women's pink collar work." We show what we value by where we put our money. I want the best teachers we can get for my kids in PCCS schools. We need to keep class sizes low and support teachers. The money should come from elsewhere.

We would be fine if we stopped spending so much money on wars and defense. The problem is at the Federal and pain is being passed down to the States. Look at the Federal Budget for the facts. Almost everyone I talk to has NO IDEA of what Federal budget looks like. All the agency and state allocations amount to less then 15%. The Politicians are just passing the buck. I see Americans being pitted against each other while the politicians support and reward their major donors. The is greed but not greed of the common. We are being used.

Are they still paying bus drivers and janitors astronomical salaries?