Our Ten Percent Reserve

One item jumps out at me from Art Johnston’s op ed piece:

We have gone from a $24 million fund balance in 2007 to what Moody’s Investors Services predicts to be a likely deficit by the end of 2014. In other words, we are very close to bankruptcy.

I was one of the architects of that ten percent reserve. Its slow disbursement means that from Dr. Dixon’s day to today The District has dipped into the reserve by an average of $3 million a year to keep a classroom disaster at bay. (although with 40 kids in the class the disaster is already well under way)

This is the last year we can draw from my old reserve to keep even more drastic cuts away from the classroom. After today’s School Board spends it down we will have to take $3 million more a year from the classroom to pay off the Red Plan bonds.

Pray the referendum (both of them) pass/passes.

If the first renewal referendum doesn’t pass it won’t just be the $3 million from the depleted reserve that is cut from our classrooms it will also be the lost referendum levy money. We’ll start looking like the Detroit Schools.

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