Brighton School Board Passes New Deficit Elimination PlanBrighton School Board Passes New Deficit Elimination Plan

3/22/13 - A new deficit elimination plan was approved by the Brighton School Board last night after the last one was rejected for being too optimistic. The district had about $7.3 million in legacy debt at the end of the last school year and is required to submit a plan to the state each year outlining how that debt will be reduced. This year’s plan was rejected by the Department of Education on March 5th, which cited the district's projection of a 1,400 student increase in shared-services students as unrealistic as well as a per-pupil funding increase of $100. To create a new deficit elimination plan district officials compiled a list of possible cuts to make to the district’s budget and gave it to school board members, who could vote for or against each one. The board went through the results line-by-line at an emergency meeting last night that attracted hundreds of parents and school employees. The items the board agreed upon were included in the deficit elimination plan, which was approved 6-to-1 last night, with only board member Nick Fiani dissenting. Brighton Education Association President Ellen Lafferty tells WHMI that she had some concerns coming to the meeting, but is satisfied with the results and feels the board acted responsibly. The proposed deficit elimination plan includes no outsourcing of employees, which was one of the chief concerns during the meeting’s call to the public. Superintendent Greg Gray says there will nonetheless be reductions in staffing, which he identified during the meeting as the district’s main expense. Those reductions include eliminating 10 teaching positions, laying off two administrators and reducing many paraprofessional positions. It would also reinstate pay-to-play fees for athletics and reduce the Community Education budget by $250,000. The plan covers the remaining budget year and the entirety of the next, and the board says creating the 2013-2014 budget will take very little time now since most of the work has been done. The deficit elimination plan was due today, so it will now be submitted to the Department of Education for review. (TD/JK)