03/14/2007

Funding issues addressed downstate

Group co-chair, TCAPS leader talk to lawmakers

By Christine Finger

cfinger@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Kirt Kilbourne helped found Citizens for Equity to spark discussion about inequalities in Michigan's school funding.

Almost a year later, he sat before state legislators and testified in a hearing dedicated to the parity issue.

"That tells me that we are making a difference,” he said.

Kilbourne, the father of two students in Traverse City Area Public Schools, is co-chairman of Citizens for Equity. The group of northern Michigan parents, educators and concerned citizens came together in May 2006 to push for changes in the way the state funds public schools.

Members point to a two-tiered system that grants more money to the wealthiest districts while giving about 400 other districts, including TCAPS, the state's base foundation grant of $7,085 per student.

Kilbourne and TCAPS Superintendent James Feil traveled to Lansing on March 7 to address the House appropriations subcommittee on school aid and education.

"I asked them what makes my children worth less than children from Bloomfield Hills,” Kilbourne said. "It's just plain discriminatory.”

Feil urged legislators to continue narrowing the gap by making equity adjustments like the $23 per student provided for the current fiscal year. "A minimum of $100 per student equity payment should be the highest priority until equitable funding is achieved,” he said.

The equity group initiated a letter-writing campaign to all low-funded districts to drum up support for their efforts. Members met in early January with officials from Howell Public Schools, who have since joined with six downstate districts to form their own Citizens for Equity chapter.

The group's Web site, www.citizensforequity.org, has received nearly 1,200 hits in the last two months. Its next public meeting is at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Horizon Books in downtown Traverse City.