Budget, Racial Equity Policy Discussed at School Board
Director of Finance Rich Pugh, slated to retire in February 2025, gave his last budget presentation to the East Lansing School Board at its Monday, June 10 meeting during a public hearing.
“Great to see so many people turn out for the budget meeting,” Pugh said, repeating his annual joke to the room filled with new and retiring educators who attended the meeting to be recognized.
While the state budget has not been finalized, Pugh informed the board what was proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate.
Each body proposed modest per pupil increases in funding, with the governor proposing a 2.5% increase of $241 per pupil, which would bring total funding to $9,849 per student. The governor has also proposed a $200 million expansion to the breakfast and lunch program that provides meals pre-K to grade 12 students for free.
Taking a hit would be funding for mental health and school safety. The governor and house proposed a decrease of 8.5% while the senate has requested a 54.3% reduction which would leave $150 million available statewide.
Other anticipated revenue includes a slight rise in local property taxes ($858,000 more) but a substantial decrease of nearly $1.9 million in funds from the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement Fund.
Assumptions for the new year also see increased staffing needs within the district, Pugh said. ELPS will add four more full-time educators, seven more paraprofessionals, and approximately five more at-will employees. Total salaries are expected to increase more than $1.4 million.
The hearing closed with little comment from the board and none from the public.
Next, Board Trustee Terah Chambers shared the proposed Racial Equity Policy that has been in the works since 2021.
“It is intended as a living document,” she said. “We kind of need to start to see how it goes and we know that there will need to be revision as we move forward, so there’s recognition that it’s not perfect and it will not be perfect.”
The policy lays out four expectations for the district: continued learning, inclusive curriculum and instruction, meaningful accountability and equitable resource allocation.
Meaningful accountability, per the proposed policy, would include the collection of “ongoing metrics to be gathered, analyzed, and presented on (at least) an annual basis.” Student data would be tracked in areas of graduation rates, attendance, discipline and more. The data would be divided into subgroups that include race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.
“We set high expectations regarding our efforts around racial equity because our students, staff, and community deserve it,” the policy reads. “We know that we will not be able to solve racism, but we can be explicit about recognizing our role in perpetuating the problem and take concrete steps to foster meaningful change.”
Most of those in attendance at Monday night’s meeting were either beginning or ending their employment at ELPS. Retirees were honored with gift bags from the board. Teachers Renee Vanremmen and Mark Pontoni were present to accept the bags.
“Renee has taught multiple grades,” Superintendent Dori Leyko told those assembled, “most recently fourth grade. For many years at Marble [Elementary], she’s also been a union rep at the building. One thing I always admire and continue to admire about Renee, I remember when I was at Marble and we had some students who came to school and didn’t always have food for lunch or snacks and Renee not only made sure that all of her kids had snacks every day, but I know she would find out what these boys wanted for dinner and she would make them [meals] and bring them in dinner to take home… Renee has just always gone above and beyond, you know, [not] just schoolwork but really looking at what our kids need and help to meet their basic needs, too.”
Pontoni, who has taught at several school districts and spent six years in the ELPS district, took to the podium when given the opportunity to make remarks.
“If you know baseball,” he said, “[when] you get elected to the Hall of Fame, you get to pick which hat you’re going to wear. I said if I was ever going to be in a Hall of Fame I would wear an East Lansing hat. It’s been a great place to work and I appreciate everything from everybody.”
Those hired included five new educators and Justine Richardson as the new Principal of Glencairn Elementary.
Also hired was Pugh’s replacement as director of finance, Lisa Allen. Allen was previously employed as the chief financial officer of Delta Dental of Missouri.
The board approved the purchase of 660 Chromebooks, the adoption of a resolution calling for a bilateral immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel, and the suspension of pay-to-participate fees for ELPS athletics and theater.
This was the fourth year the board has suspended those fees.
During her report, Leyko shared that four seats on the East Lansing school board will be up for election in November, three seats will be four-year terms and the other is a two-year term. Those interested in running for a seat should complete and submit this form before the deadline to file on July 23.
The next board meeting is June 24 at 7:00 p.m. at the high school.