Michigan Radio
Jack Lessenberry

Essay: Funding Education
March 9,2011

Mike Simeck, the superintendent of schools in Berkley, Michigan, has something in common with Governor Snyder - or at least, with the way the governor ran his businesses: 

He believes in proven results. “I run an organization that is the largest employer in our city, where I would hear from our client base immediately if we begin to fail,” he told me last night at ten o’clock, after each of us had put in more than a full day.

“I run this thing based on empirical evidence, on data and results, and as a result, we’ve been successful."

That‘s no idle boast. Berkley is a small but diverse district with a little less than five thousand students. Roughly speaking, they are two-thirds white; one-quarter black, one eighth Hispanic and Asian.

He has affluent kids from Huntington Woods, working and middle class kids from Berkley, poor kids and Orthodox Jews from a slice of Oak Park. They run lean and mean and get results.

Want proof? More than four out of every five Berkley students who apply to the University of Michigan get in. Their ACT scores are way over the national average. Simeck, who’s been in his job for four years, says this is no accident. When other school districts outperform Berkley, they study them and make changes.

That’s helped lead to Berkley High being recognized by Newsweek as one of the nation’s “public elite” high schools.

Yet Simeck is deeply concerned that Governor Snyder’s budget is going to destroy all that. He’s been in Lansing, talking to new legislators and state officials. They tell him the governor’s budget is based on a hunch that if business taxes are dramatically lowered, it will bring new investment and prosperity flowing into the state.

Mike Simeck thinks it’s only reasonable to ask, “what data do you have supporting this plan?“ That’s what he would be asked if he wanted to make radical changes in his district.

And if the governor’s budget is adopted, it will indeed mean radical change -- and not change for the better. Berkley will face a deficit of $4.9 million dollars, well over a tenth of its entire budget. This is a district that cut its fat years ago.

They privatized food service. There’s no bus service, except for special education. The district has had vacancies for an art teacher and a social worker for six months, because Simeck has a policy of no placeholders, of not hiring anyone till they find the right person.

The governor’s budget would mean laying off teachers, increasing class size, and perhaps getting rid of all music, art, athletics and physical education. Whatever they do, “We cannot avoid impacting learning and achievement,” he told me.

Those two things, are of course, what Michigan’s kids and our state need if we are to have a future.

So Mike Simeck is going to do what he can to persuade our lawmakers to think again about cutting the school aid fund. He knows it won’t be easy. Most of the legislators are new. Many are still learning how education funding works.

But he thinks they should be able to grasp this:

You may be able to put off buying a new car. But Michigan only gets one chance at properly educating a child.

Berkley School District Struggles with Technology Needs

March 15, 2011
The telephone system is past its expected life span, and computer access needs to be upgraded, the superintendent says.
By Leslie Ellis

Amid proposed education budget cuts at the state level, the Berkley School District is grappling with pressing technology demands and how to finance them.

While no decision has been made about how to address the problem, Superintendent Michael Simeck said: "What we do know is this: We're going to need to address a number of tech needs in the district."

Chief among them is the telephone system, which has a typical life span of five to seven years, Simeck said.

"Ours is close to 15 years (old). We have exhausted even replacement parts," he said. "If it goes bad, we're really going to be in a tight spot."

Mary Beth Fitzpatrick, director of curriculum, technology, assessment and grants for the district, concurred.

"We are in need of a new integrated system, which will run over $400,000," she said.

"We have made major moves to virtual servers at Oakland Schools, which alleviates the need for purchasing costly servers of our own." Fitzpatrick said. "This purchase also comes with 24/7 backup and maintenance, something we couldn't provide ourselves without significant increases in staffing."

Besides the telephone system, Simeck said, the district is looking at how to systemically address classroom technology needs.

"We've got more and more teachers that would like to do X, Y and Z. But we don't have the infrastructure to do it," he said.

For example, for Berkley High School to go wireless, electrical access would have to be run throughout the building to create hot spots, Simeck said.

The superintendent said equipment purchases cannot be financed through the sinking fund, so the district's options are to tap the general fund – which would affect classroom funding – or to issue a bond.

"A bond program would allow for greater system improvements, including wireless access, and ensure similar accessibility for all students and staff," Fitzpatrick said.

However, during a meeting last week between representatives of Berkley and Huntington Woods and the school district, Simeck said whether or not the cities issue bond measures to cope with declining revenues and proposed state budget cuts would impact the schools' decision on how to fund technology upgrades.

"November is the earliest date (a technology bond) could be on the ballot," Simeck said.

Berkley mom Connie Smith, who is a partner in Dandelions children's consignment shop, reacted with mixed emotions.

"Whether the money comes from the general fund or a bond, I would see whether there are state or federal funds available first, especially when our property values are lower than they were the year before," she said. "You know there's not any more money coming into the city from taxpayers to fund it."

But she conceded it's crucial for the district to keep up with technology.

"The teenagers can write code. Half of what my baby sitter can do, I can't do," Smith said. "This is their new reality. You have to keep up with it because this is what's going to drive their workforce. To not be able to keep up with the technology would deprive them of an education that's relevant for their age."