Neff Zone Column - October 6, 2007

Print Edition: October 6, 2007

OUR 4-YEAR-OLDS ARE IMPORTANT TOO

Imagine this situation. There’s a movie you want to see playing at the local theater. You’ve gone to the movies several times at this establishment, so you know the drill.

You clear your schedule so you’ll be able to go to the show on a selected night, you arrive early, you stand in line to buy your ticket, you purchase a tub of popcorn, you find your seat, and you settle in for an enjoyable evening.

A half-hour into the movie you get a tap on the shoulder. It’s the manager of the theater who says: "I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave. Fifteen people have just arrived from Detroit and we need your seat to accommodate one of them. Hit the road."

"Wait a minute," you say, "I stood in line and paid for my ticket and the movie has already started, so tell the Detroiters they’ll have to wait for the next show."

To which the manager replies, "That’s not how we do business. The Detroiters are more important than you, so take a hike."

Does this scenario seem fair to you? Probably not. But in a nutshell, that’s exactly what’s happening with the Michigan School Readiness Program in northern Michigan and to make matters even more saddening the ones being told to "take a hike" are 4-year-olds.

I sent a letter to all of our legislators expressing my feelings about this situation. Here’s what I said:

"On September 18 the Michigan Department of Education in effect threw the 4- year-olds of northern Michigan under the school bus. In a memo to all state school districts from the office of Preschool and Early Elementary Programs, the DOE in essence said the 4-year-olds of downstate Michigan are more important than the 4-year-olds of northern Michigan.

The memo dealt with the ‘allocation’ of funds for the Michigan School Readiness Program. The long and short of this is that a certain amount of funding is available for MSRP. Schools in northern Michigan which have MSRP programs already in place will have their funding slashed as of October 20. Those funds will then be ‘re-allocated’ to 15 new start-up charter schools and academies primarily catering to large migrant populations in urban areas. The overall effect will be that new programs will be added in southern Michigan while established programs will have to close their doors in northern Michigan.

Needless to say, this cruel and misguided move came as a shock to northern Michigan school officials and parents. Currently operating MSRP programs have been set up at considerable expense and countless work hours. Classroom space and transportation have been arranged. Teachers are in place. Students are already in session and have bonded with each other and their teachers. Parents and families have arranged their schedules based on MSRP.

The re-allocation of funds means many northern Michigan school districts will have to just slam those classroom doors in the faces of their 4-year-old students. What are those children to be told? Thanks for attending for two months, but now we don’t care about you any more so get lost?

The bottom line is that successful northern Michigan MSRP programs should not be summarily ended just because new downstate charter schools want to start programs of their own. The school districts of northern Michigan waited in line, went through the application process, did the work required to set up their programs, and are currently accomplishing the mission of MSRP. New schools should have to go through the same process and also wait their turn for funding. To yank the funding for established northern Michigan programs at this late date in the school year is incredibly devastating educational policy and shows a complete disregard for the citizens of northern Michigan and their children.

I urge the State Department of Education to reconsider this unwise and destructive course of action."

One legislator who responded to my letter illustrated a stunning lack of awareness of the issue and completely missed my point. Basically, the response said that Republicans were working on budget cuts which the Democrats were rejecting.

Fine and dandy, but we’re not talking about cutting anything because the MSRP money is already in place. This is not a case where a program is being cut statewide or even uniformly being reduced a certain percentage for all school districts. This is a case where programs already funded and underway (like the one in the Cadillac Area Public Schools) are being axed so that programs somewhere else can be started; it’s a shift, not a cut.

I urge all of you to contact the "powers that be" and speak out on behalf of our preschoolers. Now that our esteemed legislators have figured out they can save the state’s economy by taxing baby shoe bronzers and psychics, they have some spare time to be educated on the importance of fair treatment for northern Michigan’s 4-year-olds. The contact information for our legislators is a regular panel on the Cadillac News editorial page. You can also follow developments on the Cadillac Schools website at www.vikingnet.org.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.