East Lansing Schools Release Proposed Schools of Choice numbers

East Lansing school administrators are proposing a reduced number of Schools of Choice slots for the 2016-17 school year.

In a memo to the Board of Education released Monday, ELPS Finance Director Rich Pugh is suggesting the District open 129 total slots to new Schools of Choice students.

The Board had approved 220 slots last year and ended up with 159 Schools of Choice students.

Schools of Choice is a State program which allows districts to open their seats to students outside of the district if they have the space. It began in 1994 as part of the Proposal A reforms in school financing. A recent Michigan State University study found that more than 80 percent of districts participate.

East Lansing’s Board of Education discussed the administration’s suggestions Monday night but did not take action. The District must report its slots to the State by April 25.

The recommended slots for new enrollees district-wide are:
Kindergarten – 36
First grade – 33
Second grade – 0
Third grade – 15
Fourth grade – 23
Fifth grade – 19
Seventh grade – 13.

Administrators are not recommending opening any new slots for 6^th grade or for grades 8-12.

Pugh told the Board that these slots would allow the District to fill the classrooms to the recommended capacity minus 1-2 students. For example, that would make the average kindergarten class 21 students with a cap of 22, and an average fourth grade class of 26 students with a cap of 28. Any students above the cap would require mutual agreements between the District and the teachers.

“We basically recommend under cap by two per class to allow for the unknowns. We’ve never taken it up to the cap,” Pugh said. “It’s usually been two below the cap.”

Trustee Hillary Henderson said she supports the Board’s recommendations, especially with the knowledge that building principals had a say in the numbers.

Kate Powers agreed, saying she “supports our administration and that the numbers you bring forward are appropriate to our district.”

However parent Christie Alwin believes the District is undercounting the number of residents who are moving into specific neighborhoods where kindergarten classes are already over capacity.

“At Pinecrest, we have five classes over the cap and all of them well over average. We are likely to have three classrooms of kindergarteners next year,” she said. “We are full and would like you to take a moment to look at our very specific numbers.”

Pugh and Board members responded that there is no way to predict how many families move into a neighborhood after the next year’s enrollment has already been calculated.

Resident Bree Anderson also expressed concern about the number of open slots and asked the Board to place “err on the side of the residents.”

“That is not good for our kids, and once they are here, every Schools of Choice kid is our kid. We are not doing right by them if there are 29 kids in a kindergarten classroom,” she said. “Can we have small classrooms for every room in the District?”

IN OTHER ACTION

• In a special meeting earlier Monday night, the Board heard the recommendation from Pugh to push the upcoming school bond issue to next May at the earliest.

Originally, the Board had hoped to take advantage of the expected large outcome of this fall’s presidential election to put a bond on the ballot to fund improvements in the elementary facilities. But because of “emotional issues,” the District’s contractor GMB Architecture + Engineering delayed putting out a community survey to gauge support for the bond.

“We are slightly behind by design. There were emotional things going on in the District that would have heavily weighted the survey in one direction. We want to try to move forward as objectively as possible,” said GMB Vice President Brad Hemmes.

GMB is planning to survey the staff and then the community about the bond this spring. Meanwhile, they have surveyed every room in every elementary school building. They are hoping a May 2017 bond election approval would allow them to begin construction in summer of 2018.

The Board agreed that November 2016 was too soon to properly propose the bond issue and agreed to move forward with a May 2017 deadline.

• Agreed to spend $24,000 for a “Lead Higher Initiative” program to identify students who are underrepresented in advanced placement classes. Superintendent Robyne Thompson said the program will help the District create profiles of historically underrepresented students, including those who live in poverty or are African American or Hispanic. It is a step toward closing the achievement gap between the highest achieving and lowest achieving students in the District. Voting against the proposal were Board President Nell Kuhnmuench and Trustee Erin Graham.
• Will send a letter of support to the State Board of Education in agreement with their proposed guidelines for LBGTQ students.
• Unanimously agreed to implement the Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth (Mi-Phy_ survey) to students in 7^th, 9^th and 11^th grades. The survey asks students to report experiences with tobacco, alcohol, drugs, sex and risk-taking behaviors. The survey has not been given in the District in four years. The survey was requested by the board’s Sex Ed Advisory Board.