The Milan Area Schools Board of Education consists of 7 trustees who are elected Milan residents. The school board ensures the mission and goals of the district are met through formulating policy, which is its primary function. The board appoints and guides the superintendent, reviews and approves the district operating budget, and negotiates and approves employee bargaining unit contracts. Trustees relay educational issues to their constituency to gain input and support necessary to effectively operate the district. The terms of members are converting from four to six years.
WRITE-IN?
No
DISTRICT
Milan
PHONE
7344763928
Number of years as resident
16
Education transformed my life. My childhood was chaotic and unstable. My grandmother, who was forced to end her education in middle school, told me that an education was the way to change my future. I now live a life she could not even imagine
All of our children deserve that same life changing opportunity. Milan is small, but mighty. We offer programs to students focused on college, the trades, the work force, and other avenues. Each of our children's dreams are worthy and should be fostered. Ensuring that Milan continues to offer multiple pathways to allow all children to realize their dreams is my main focus.
We must manage our budget in such a way that we: (i) meet our Board goal of maintaining a 10% Fund Balance; (ii) pay our teachers and other staff a fair and competitive wage; (iii) and continue to provide the vast programming offered to our students to meet their needs and develop their dreams.
We have always done more with less. Inflationary pressures, increased student need, and the failure of government funding to track rising costs have all made doing more with less increasingly difficult over the last several years.
We must continue to manage our spending. As the budget gets tighter, I will continue to scrutinize spending, including staff expansion, to ensure we are able to meet all of our goals.
Recently, Milan's M-Step scores were criticized. It's important to remember that an M-Step score is just a snapshot of a child's performance on one test on one day. It is not a true measure of a child's achievement.
This is why the Board relies more heavily on NWEA testing; measuring a child's growth over the course of a year. Milan students have consistently met the NWEA goals over the last several years.
I support using NWEA testing data to identify educational gaps and to inform instruction.
Additionally, studies show that students with strong ties to their school and community achieve more. Extracurricular activities help drive that sense of belonging and are integral to student achievement. We must protect those activities.
We must manage our budget in such a way that we: (i) meet our Board goal of maintaining a 10% Fund Balance; (ii) pay our teachers and other staff a fair and competitive wage; (iii) and continue to provide the vast programming offered to our students to meet their needs and develop their dreams.
We have big goals for our small district. Those goals stretch our budget.
Board policy sets a goal of maintaining a 10% fund balance. We ended the 25-26 fiscal year with a 10.45% fund balance. Down from 12% - 15% in previous years. A fund balance below 5% opens the door to State intervention and eventual appointment of a financial manager. With each of these interventions we lose control over the education of our children and our ability to offer the wide array of programs in our current curriculum.
We must continue to manage our spending. As the budget gets tighter, I will continue to scrutinize spending, including staff expansion, to ensure we are able to meet all of our goals.
