Recent budget cuts in Michigan’s education system have been met with many voices of disapproval. The new financial limitations have already started to hit close to home as Bendle’s Board of Education is forced to make some unwanted changes regarding the size of their staff.

Monday night the members of the Board of Education for Bendle schools voted for the layoff of nine staff  members; six teachers and three social workers. The reasoning behind the cuts were credited to the decline in the number of students (the district is down 117 students from February 2010) and the new budget cuts imposed by Governor Rick Snyder. Superintendent John Krolewski had this to say about the layoffs;

"All the teachers I spoke with and social workers...everyone has been special and done a great job…There's only one reason why we're having this conversation and that's because the governor is putting us in this place. You really can't plan a budget right because we don't have the information we need. The big thing used to be back when Engler was in office that schools should be run like a business. How do you set a budget when you don't know what you're getting in? It's a crap shoot."

Krolewski also warned that if there were more decreases in the districts student count that they would have no other options but to resort to more layoffs. It is possible that funds could be cut as much as $700 per student. Treasurer Janis Bubgee urged residents within the district to;

"Get your letters off to Lansing…We've got to let them (legislators) know how much it means to take away that money from students. The cuts and increased costs may create a more than $500,000 drop in aid to the district.”

A number of radical moves by Snyder have caused a dip in his approval rating. The EMF bill caused problems with unions and the education cuts are also a very polarizing issue. Some believe Snyder’s policies will fix our financial problems while others believe he is destroying our state. What is your take on the direction that Michigan is headed?

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