thank you - WKTV Journal

By Ron Koehler

KISD Assistant Superintendent, Organizational & Community Initiatives and Legislative Affairs

Kent County voters on May 2 turned out to the polls and expressed confidence in their schools by approving a ballot proposal that will provide crucial support to all 20 districts in Kent ISD. The enhancement millage will yield approximately $211 per pupil for each of the next 10 years, beginning with the 2017-18 school year.

Thank you!

These dollars are essential to help our schools meet the needs of students, maintain programs and create more connections to the world of work as we prepare young adults for careers.

They also create a small, but stable and reliable source of revenue for schools as Lansing grapples with perennial budget problems, which make it very likely legislators will be tempted to drain even more money from the School Aid Fund for higher education in coming years. Currently, more than $600 million is going out of the School Aid Fund to support community colleges and universities.

The recent Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference, conducted twice a year to predict revenues available for state government, forecast slow growth in Michigan’s general fund and significant budget pressures ahead.

Just a week earlier, the Senate Fiscal Agency projected a $2.072 billion hole in the general fund budget in five short years, due largely to the road package that passed in 2015 with a commitment to use general fund dollars to augment the fuel taxes dedicated to road repair. Other factors contributing to the projected deficit were elimination of the Personal Property Tax on business and the sales tax on the difference between the price of a new vehicle and the customer’s trade-in.

Legislators are already responding to the pressure. In the wake of the bleak general fund projections, Republican Rep. James Lower of Montcalm County introduced HB4261 to divert some $430 million from the School Aid Fund to the general fund by reversing the decades-long policy of applying all tax refunds to the state’s general fund.

Amid all of this, Kent County taxpayers sent a clear message to Lansing: Education is important. Students deserve better. We need to adequately fund our schools to ensure a positive future for our children, and our communities.

So, again, on behalf of our students and our schools, thank you. For those of us who have devoted our careers to the education of children and the betterment of our communities, it is reassuring to know our community values our commitment to this work. Cheers!

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.

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Two special luncheons were not only designed to say thank you to the many first responders who helped with a July 15 fire, but also an opportunity for residents of Bayberry Farms Apartments to heal.

“We really wanted to show our appreciation for all that the Wyoming police officers and firefighters did for us,” said Catherine Kooyers, a resident of Bayberry Farms Apartments and one of the organizers of the event that took place earlier this month.

“By being able to say thank you, the residents are able to put closure on what happened and heal from the entire event.”

It was July 15 when a call went out that there was a fire at the Bayberry Farms Apartments, a Wyoming senior-living complex located at 2520 56th St. SW. “Earlier that day, we had just had the fire department here but it turned out to be nothing,” Kooyers said. However, the mid-afternoon fire was much more serious as smoke started to fill the apartment complex. Kooyers, who lives in an apartment that was near where the fire started, ran through the building knocking on doors and trying to get people out.

“Because of the earlier incident, some people didn’t think the second situation was all that serious,” Kooyers said.

Along with tenants, firefighters and police, workers from the nearby businesses came over to help with the evacuation.

“I heard a knock on the door but didn’t pay that much attention to it,” said resident Ellen Vining. “I heard another knock, much harder and decided I needed to answer it.

“There was a young lady telling me that I needed to get out. She was all dressed in blue so I thought she was one of the firefighters.”

Vining later learned that person was a Monelli’s employee who was coming in for her shift when she saw the smoke and came over to help.

“I learned a very valuable lesson that day,” Vining said with a chuckle. “Don’t ignore a knock on the door.”

Because of the organization of the tenants it made it easier for the department to assess who was missing which in turned meant the lost of only a pet, said Wyoming Deputy Chief Brian Bennett. Three people were taken to the hospital to be checked out. Three units suffered the most damage with the entire building having smoke and water damage.

It has taken several months, but most of the residents have been able to move back home and with the fire behind them, the tenants felt now was a good time to show their appreciation to the police officers and firefighters with the special luncheons.

“It is always nice when you are able to come back and visit with those who you were able to help and learn what has happened since the fire,” Bennett said. “A lot of times, we are in and out and we do not get that chance to talk to the residents and see how they are doing afterwards.”

“I am so impressed with all of them,” Vining said. “They all have such compassion which I guess that is why they became firefighters.”