Students Put Candidates on the Hot Seat at Forum

students fired questions at four school board candidates during a forum at Tuesday night.

Approximately 150 people attended the forum, sponsored by Students Re-Investing in a Valuable Education.

Students asked questions on a wide variety of topics, including the role of public education, teacher evaluations, and ways to collaborate with students in solving issues in the schools.

The questions were asked and answered at a quick pace. Candidates David Holden, Patti Tanner, David Friese and David Zimmer made their points cordially. Few, if any of the answers, seemed to draw a response from the large audience. But the candidates did differentiate themselves, especially on questions about school budgeting and teacher evaluation.

One question asked the candidates what their priorities would be if the district finds itself in another budget shortfall.

Friese said it was difficult to answer, and blamed Lansing legislators for letting down the children in the state. Friese said the cuts in per pupil funding from the state, coupled with a drop in enrolment, caused hardship in the school district.  He urged residents to contact their legislators to talk about school funding.

“We have to hope the state will not be as draconian as they were last year. It’s very important that all of us dialogue with our representatives and senators and say, ‘Hey, our kids are the number one priority,’” Friese said.

Holden disputed Friese’s claim that the district had its funding cut.

“Facts are stubborn things. The reality is we are getting $400,000 more from the state than we got last year. Any talk of draconian cuts from Lansing are flat out baseless,” Holden said, who went on to say that administrators and support staff have given concessions, and that parents and students are paying more in fees. He pointed to teachers’ union contract that expires at the end of June.

“I think we have to have an honest discussion about that agreement. I think there are things in that agreement that can be looked at and adjusted without financially impacting the teachers,” said Holden, who went on to suggest bidding out the health care contract. “I think that will be a defining moment for the district.”

Zimmer said that Saline Area Schools has not had a decrease in state funding since 2003.

“Our challenge is that our expenses exceed our revenue,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer went on to add that Chelsea and Dexter school districts, which receive similar funding as Saline, have maintained healthy fund balances.  Zimmer it was important to prioritize spending based on class sizes, offering core classes, and then finding new ways to offer extra curricular activities, such as sports, music and arts. He suggested that one way to help fund those things might be to tap the Foundation for Saline Area Schools.

Tanner said that her priority would be to maintain the integrity of the school. She said the district needed to investigate other instructional models, grants and other ways to capture revenue.

“We have to realize that everything is on the table at this point. There are no sacred cows. Everything is up for grabs, anything can be cut,” Tanner said, adding that she would views maintaining infrastructure as a high priority. “It doesn’t matter how good our teachers are if our students can’t get on a bus or if the roof is falling down.”

Aaron Mukerjee, of STRIVE, helped moderate the forum. He thought the forum went well.

“A lot of important questions were asked and they answered, for the most part, honestly,” Mukerjee said. “It was informative for the students and hopefully for the community as well.”

“The kids asked great questions. I was expecting questions that would be very student-centric, but they asked some very important questions on a wide range of suspects,” Tanner said. “They did a great job.”

Holden agreed.

“I thought they were good questions. Certainly I felt I was put under the hot seat. Students talk about the stress they are under, and I think the candidates were put under a little stress tonight, and I think that’s good for the process.

At 17, Mukerjee isn’t eligible to vote. But he said he was confident that those who can will choose good stewards of the school district.

“I kind of wish I could vote, but I think this will be a good election and that we’ll have two good members out of this,” he said.

Saline Patch is holding a school board election forum at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Liberty School Media Center.