So our governor, with a stroke of his pen and the cooperation of his GOP lackeys in the Michigan legislature has cut education funding in Michigan more drastically than at any time in the history of our state.
Snyder has lived in Ann Arbor and sent his children to Greenhills, a private school in our fair city. Tuition costs are $18,000 a year. Why would he choose a private school? Maybe it is the small class size, and the fact that the school itself has a small, elite student population. By elite, I mean the families that send their children there are very wealthy and influential members of the Ann Arbor community....they are all "connected" and often take their kids on trips to Paris in the spring, or skiing in the Alps during February. Their parents are business leaders or professor's children who put a big emphasis on quality education.
Nevertheless, $18,000 apparently isn't quite enough money to educate a child at Greenhills, so they hold an annual fund raiser.Watch the cute video here. Doesn't it make you just all warm and fuzzy inside? Great modern facility, energized eager students, terrific teachers and administrators....wow, I wish I could have afforded to send my kids there. Well, actually, NOT. My kids went to public schools where they learned acceptance, tolerance, understanding and coping skills to get along with other students from all religious, ethnic and socio/economic groups. It has made them better people.
Down the road a ways are several wonderful public schools - I'll focus on the high schools: Pioneer High School with its outstanding academic record producing such grads at Ken Burns, Bob Seger, great athletic program but most outstanding is their music program. They just won a second "Grammy" for the best music program in the whole damn country - twice! And then there is Community High School whose students are given more academic freedom to explore project based learning, there is a terrific community service component to their education, the art classes there are some of the most creative in the state. Or the brand new Skyline High School, which is exploring new concepts in learning with smaller classes and inquiry based emphasis in science and technology. Last, but not least is Huron High School, voted the top performing high school in the state of Michigan Read about it here. All these schools have wonderfully dedicated teachers too.
Most communities would give an arm and a leg to have such excellent schools to send their children to - that's free, public education at its best folks! But Snyder has chosen to send his kids to the elite private school....and worst of all to cut funds for each child attending public schools. Ann Arbor schools are facing cuts of $15 million in state funding which will put the per pupil expenditure at about $11,000. The video about Greenhills School says it cost about $20,000 a year to educate a child of a wealthy family at their school. Some disperity - huh?
There are many many other school districts in the state of Michigan who don't have the financial resources of the Ann Arbor Schools and therefore spend as little as $7000 per student per year. I hate to put this all in monetary terms, but you can't run a school with just a book and some chalk. The children are our future. Education is NOT a business....it is our investment in our future. Republican governors like Snyder, need to listen to us or be recalled from office before they do so much damage, it cannot be undone. It is unlikely that an individual that thinks he and his kids are too good for the public schools would do anything to support public schools - and that's why he's such a super hypocrite.