MONTCALM COUNTY- Marty James, superintendent of Central Montcalm Public Schools in Montcalm County, Michigan admits in a voice recording to a concerned parent about school funding and mandates.
The parent initially approached the James in regard to her child not being allowed on the bus for not wearing a mask.
James states in the recorded conversation between himself and the parent the school must enforce and obey mandates, otherwise their funding from the federal government will be pulled. He stated, “We cannot lose millions of dollars over a federal mandate.”
Central Montcalm schools have received nearly $2.5 billion in federal monies in the most recent 2022-2023 school year, and nearly $2 billion in 2021-2022. This is a huge increase in funding, as the 2019-2020 school year reflects just a little over $500 thousand dollars.
“We’re under federal guidelines right now, our federal funding that funds a lot of our programs could possibly be pulled away from us if we don’t follow federal mandates. It’s not a recommendation for us as a public entity.” “Federal mandate, okay, any public transportation which falls under that mandate, to us it has the strength of law because our finding could be pulled away.”
Statewide it seems as if concerned parents, no matter how hard they’ve voiced their concerns over the last year and a half at school board meetings have had little to no effect. Because money talks.
MiSchoolData.com reports this school district’s report of students proficient in English Language Arts at the End of Third Grade is only 42.2%, down from 46.1%.
The next Central Montcalm Public School District’s School Board meeting will be held on July 18, 2022 at 7pm.
Financial statistics provided by Munetrix.com