Public school employee compensation is often a topic of scrutiny when school officials ask cash-strapped voters for additional money—in essence permission to go deeper in debt in order to pay the bills. In Ann Arbor, as of 2016, the Board of Education had received permission from voters to float $188.5 million worth of general obligation bonds. According to records from Moody’s Credit Rating Agency, in 2013 the AAPS underlying rating on its general obligation debt was downgraded and a negative outlook issued on the debt. In January of 2016, Moody’s reaffirmed the District’s lowered rating on its general obligation bond debt, but removed the negative outlook. The January 2016 Moody’s rating states, “Removal of the negative outlook is based on recent improvement of the district’s financial operations as a result of expenditure reductions, one-time revenues and growing enrollment.”
At $541 million, the total long-term liabilities of the AAPS are more than double the District’s 2016 revenue of $253 million, according to the most recent audited statement made available to the public.
Each year, the Ann Arbor Public Schools pays about $14 million in debt payments.
In Michigan, the state’s public schools owe a collective $19.7 billion in long-term (non-pension) debt. The state ranks 5th nationally in per-student amount of long-term debt. According to data fromNational Center for Education Statistics, Michigan has $13,000 per-student in long-term debt. On average, the U.S. has $8,400 per student in long-term debt.
The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education recently voted to place an increase to the AAPS Sinking Fund Millage on the May 2, 2017 ballot. The Ann Arbor Public Schools is once again asking local voters to levy a tax on themselves and approve $200 million in property taxes over the next decade.
In 2015 voters approved a 10-year millage extension that is projected to raise about $33 million for what school officials told the public were upgrades to furnishings, buses, athletic fields, auditoriums and instruments.
In 2012, Ann Arbor voters approved a $45.8 million technology bond issue.
In 2004, voters approved a $123.4-million bond to primarily fund the construction of Skyline High School. [There were cost overruns on the project, which pushed the Skyline price tag to more than $90 million from a projected cost of $67 million.]
School district sinking fund millages may be levied in Michigan to repair and construct school buildings.
According to AAPS officials, “Sinking Fund dollars protect critical General Fund dollars that must be preserved for instruction, programs, salaries and other essential district operating costs. Under state law, sinking fund proceeds may not be used to pay teacher or administrator salaries.”
Still, money is tight, or so the public is told by Ann Arbor Public School officials. Parents with children who want to play a sport, pay participation, transportation and equipment fees. Ann Arbor high school theater groups charge student participants dues and hold fundraisers to bankroll their programs thanks to shrinking budgets for arts programs. High school science students aren’t permitted to take home textbooks, because the District no longer buys enough books for each student to have access to one outside school.
The amount of the District’s total revenue allotted to instruction in 2009 was $134 million out of a $234 million budget. In 2016, the amount spent on instruction rose to $144 million, and revenue increased to $253 million. As a percentage of total revenue, the District’s spending on instruction has decreased.
The AAPS’s General Fund pays for the compensation of its 3,500 employees. Together, salaries for the the highest paid 43 employees in the AAPS topped $4.78 million in 2015. With benefits and perks, such as bonuses, the total compensation for these employees topped $7 million. The amount paid to the 43 employees who earned six-figure salaries in 2015 ($4.78 million), was 6 percent less than it was in 2012, when 46 AAPS employees earned six-figure salaries totaling $5.1 million. In 2010, 59 AAPS employees earned six-figures and their salaries totaled about $6.9 million.
Below, is a list of the 250 highest paid employees employed by the Ann Arbor Public Schools in 2015.
There’s a few folks above who are phoning it in, it must be seniority that got their wages pushed so high. Meanwhile, multiple written requests to the super, school spokesperson and others for a list of what they are planing to spend these sinking fund dollars on, for the first year alone, have gone unanswered. Do we have to pass the millage to see what’s in it? Why can’t someone at AAPS provide details? Or is the answer right in front of us?
The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team says
@Jeff, have you written to ask what, precisely, the millage will be spent on and received no reply?
There’s a few folks above who are phoning it in, it must be seniority that got their wages pushed so high. Meanwhile, multiple written requests to the super, school spokesperson and others for a list of what they are planing to spend these sinking fund dollars on, for the first year alone, have gone unanswered. Do we have to pass the millage to see what’s in it? Why can’t someone at AAPS provide details? Or is the answer right in front of us?
@Jeff, have you written to ask what, precisely, the millage will be spent on and received no reply?