Westerman Says Schools' 6.67 Mill Plan 'reasonable'

(SECOND OF A SERIES) What is a "reasonable effort" - financially speaking - toward supporting the Ann Arbor School System? School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. believes the school district's 6.67-mill request for operational funds which will face voters June 9 is a "reasonable effort." What the taxpayers think will be decided in the voting booths. All registered Ann Arbor School District voters, not just property owners, may vote on the 6.67-mill package next Monday. This includes a 3.37-mill renewal and 3.3 additional milis over a five-year period. Do school personnel think the millage will be successful at the polls? Most school board members have been publicly pessimistic aböut its chances, but the majority said they believe the public should have a chance to support the school system's present academie level. Westerman says he "hopes it will pass," adding he has been "very much encouraged" by the support f or the issue developing in the community. Som e 3.6 milis - or a bout $1.8 mililon - of this 6.67-mill package are committed to salary and wage increases promised and predicted. The bulk of this amount, about $1.4 million, has been promised to the Ann Arbor Education Association for salary and fringe benefit improvements as part of a twoyear contract negotiated last summer. The Board of Education also expects n e a r 1 y $400,000 in raises for maintenance personnel, cafetería workers and other school personnel. An additional 1.6 mili- or about $826,000 - is needed to extend the school program to an estimated 927 additional pupils next year. This figure includes about 90 new students from University School, which will close the doors of its junior high in June. The final 1.5 milis - or about $792,000- is earmarked for program improvements, many of them for the slow learners and children with learning problems. These planned improvements include extending the "helping teacher" program; employing an additional reading coördinator and another teacher to work with the perceptually handicapped; establishing "learning laboratories" where "unresponsive" junior-high students can get special attetnion, and increasing reading improvement services in the junior highs. Some expansión of the vocational education curriculum also is desired. Westerman firmly contends the "tradition of excellence" of the Ann Arbor Public Schools cannot be maintained without the entire 6.67 milis. He says the current program would have to be "curtailed" if there were any "significant" reduction of the additional 3.3 milis. According t o Westerman, "excellence" includes doing a more effective job for the children who have been unresponsive in the past, and much of the 1.5 milis earmarked would be used precisely for this pose, as urged by several schoosÉ trustees and candidates for thel Ann Arbor Board of Education. Not all school trustees agree I with this assessment, however. I Trustee William C. Godfrey, I especially, has repeatedly saidl the school district can maintain I its excellence with only the I 3.37-mill renewal. Trustee 1 ard M. Wood also urged the I board to go for only 4 milis. If the millage fails at the polls June 9, it is certain the school board would return to the voters in 40 days - or near the end of July- and 'again request more millage. The size of that request is a matter of speculation, since the board would then contain three I elected members. Westerman I thinks the size of a second 1 lage proposal would be affected I by the "margin of failure" I June 9. What are the probable conse-l quences of a millage defeatl June 9? If the proposal fails, and iffl the board successfully returns! to the voters in 1g"jiTlllY fnrm only the 3.37-mill renewal or slightly more, a number of budgets cuts detailed by Westerman on April 23 are possible. On the elementary level; these include elimination of French in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, reduction of instrumental and vocal music, art and physical education in certain grades, reduction of field trips by one-half, and retaining the current pupil-teacher ratio in grades kindergarten through 2 instead of planned decreases. On the secondary level, Westerman proposed in April that the number of class periods be reduced from seven to six, and scholastic and intramural activities be reduced. This reduction of class periods would mean a "warning" on the high-school level from the North Central Association, however. The NCA is this area's accrediting institution. Other general budget cuts recommended include reduction of audio-visual memberships by one third, reduction by one half of in-service education for teachers, reduction in curriculum development by one half, reduction of coördinators, reduction of the contingency fund from $400,000 to $225,000, reduction in school maintenance, and a reduction of 5 per cent each of the total budgets of the public library, Recr"eation Department and Continuing Education Department. Another suggestion was to employ less experienced teachers at a savings of $125,000. Westerman has told the school board this would assume no new teachers would be hired with more than four years of experience. A number of other budget cuts also were preliminarily proposed by Westerman, but these have been tabled for more discussion. If the school district receives no millage approval- meaning even the 3.37-mill renewal is turned down- the superintendent says the district will be in "serious trouble." In this event u a 1 i t y , the school system would be lacking nearly $3.5 million. If this happens, Westerman beiieves half-day sessiois on at least the elementary level, and I perhaps in the secondary grades, I too, would have to be instituted. I No firm decisions in this área I have yet been made, but by I mid-summer the superintendent I "expects to be ready for any eventuality." If both the millage and $4.9 million bonding issue for school construction are approved June 9, school taxes would be hiked $3.39 per $1,000 of state equalized valuation in 1969-70, or $37.29 per year on an "average" home assessed at $11,000. For the millage issue alone, approval at the polls would mean a tax hike of $3.30 per $1,000, of $36.30 on an $11,000 house. The 3.37-mill renewal would involve no increase over the 1968-69 tax bill. In 1968-69, a total of 32.58 milis for operations and debt service was levied on Ann Arbor School District voters. Success of both the millage and bonding issues would hike the levy to 35.97 milis in 1969-70. Success of only the millage issue would increase the levy next year to 35.88 milis.