MONTROSE -- Imagine a school system without school buses. Montrose Community Schools is on track to wipe out its entire busing operation in response to major education cuts being made in Lansing.
Cuts of $470 per pupil in K-12 funding just passed the Michigan Senate, and will likely be approved by the House and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder by the beginning of next week.
Preparing for the worst, Montrose officials sent out pink slips to 17 workers, including 11 bus drivers. Under the move, busing will only remain for special education students and students that are part of the Genesee Intermediate School District.
This follows the first round of layoff notices issued six weeks ago, which went to 28 employees including teachers, secretaries and paraprofessionals.
”The bus drivers that are on this list, the teachers that are on this list for layoffs as well as the Para pros; these are good people,” said Superintendent Mark Kleinhans.
Despite the cuts, Montrose will still be $200,000 in the red. It’s not clear where future cuts could come from, although Kleinhans said almost every department and extracurricular activity will feel the pinch.
For example, sports teams could be combined. Some sports may only be offered on special rotations. The exact details are sketchy at this point but will likely be ironed out next month. District officials will meet on June 7th to review the damage done by the state cuts and see if any positions could be reinstated if the cuts don’t go quite as deep.
