July 11, 2013
The Honorable Bill Rogers Chair, House School Aid Appropriations Subcommittee P.O. Box 30014 Lansing, MI 48909-7514
The Honorable Howard Walker Chair, Senate School Aid Appropriations Subcommittee P.O. Box 30036 Lansing, MI 48909-7536
Dear Chairman Rogers and Chairman Walker:
I am writing to express our organization’s support to further explore the ideas regarding consolidation of several administrative and academic functions at the Intermediate School District (ISD) level as outlined by Superintendent for Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. Business Leaders for Michigan developed the Michigan Turnaround Plan, a six-step comprehensive, holistic strategy to make Michigan a Top Ten state for job, economic and personal income growth.
One of the steps calls for providing effective, efficient government services, and a key recommendation under this step is to accelerate the consolidation of schools where appropriate and the sharing of school services to direct more resources to student learning. Intuitively, it seems unnecessarily duplicative that 550 school districts should house separate information technology, accounting, and other administrative functions.
The concept of consolidating these functions at the county level should be given a full review to determine if it will provide greater efficiency and savings. On behalf of Business Leaders for Michigan, I respectfully encourage you and your colleagues to give serious consideration to these ideas.
Sincerely,
Doug Rothwell President & CEO
cc: The Honorable Rick Snyder, Governor The Honorable Brian Calley, Lieutenant Governor The Honorable Jase Bolger, Speaker of the House The Honorable Randy Richardville, Senate Majority Leader The Honorable Tim Greimel, House Minority Leader The Honorable Gretchen Whitmer, Senate Minority Leader The Honorable Joe Haveman, State Representative The Honorable Roger Kahn, State Representative Mike Flanagan, State Superintendent of Public Instruction