Monthly Archives: January 2010
It’s Time GPPSS Moved Forward With No-Fee All Day Kindergarten
A loophole in how Michigan distributes per pupil revenue has long allowed public schools to get twice what they really deserved for half-day kindergarten students. But charging for extended day kindergarten amounts to taxing residents twice. For this and other reasons I am advocating a district-wide switch to a no-fee All Day Kindergarten program for 2010-11. Continue reading
2010-11 GPPSS Budget Development: Background, Process and Timeline
The 2010-11 Grosse Pointe Public School System budget will present perhaps the most difficult challenge to the district in its history. Approaching such a problem with stakes as high as they are will require careful planning, collaboration, and deliberation. Above all else, it requires an understanding of the dynamics that contribute to the current economic distress. Continue reading
Filed under Current Events, GPPS Budget Decisions, GPPS Finances
School Employee Retirement Costs and the House of the Rising Sun
Most people know by now that Lansing is by far the most significant source of school district funding. Lansing is also the unilateral source of our second largest expense – employee retirement costs. Lansing sets the rates and we pay the bill – a financially lethal combination that puts local school boards in an unenviable predicament. Continue reading
Steps, Lanes and More: A Technical Analysis of Teacher Compensation
State of Michigan statistics show Grosse Pointe Public School teachers are the highest paid in the state. Questions have been asked and theories presented as to why this is the case. Teacher salaries are every district’s highest investment. As such we need to understand the dynamics of employee compensation fully, but undertake the analysis in an objective, constructive manner. Continue reading
Filed under Dispelling Rumors, GPPS Budget Decisions, GPPS Finances
I have been a trustee on the Grosse Pointe Public School's Board of Education since August, 2005. My familiy resides in GP Park. My three children attend GPPS schools and I am a graduate of GP South High School and the University of Michigan. 
