Superintendent, governor trade barbs over prison request

A letter to the editor of the Gratiot County News by Ithaca Schools’ Superintendent Nathan Bootz has been making the rounds on the internet for his big ask — he wants his school turned into a prison so it can be adequately funded.

Bootz points out that Michigan spends $30,000 to $40,000 per year per prisoner, but can’t manage to find more than $7,000 per student in K-12 education funding.

This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison. The State of Michigan spends annually somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 per prisoner, yet we are struggling to provide schools with $7,000 per student. I guess we need to treat our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding. Please give my students three meals a day. Please give my children access to free health care. Please provide my school district Internet access and computers. Please put books in my library. Please give my students a weight room so we can be big and strong. We provide all of these things to prisoners because they have constitutional rights. What about the rights of youth, our future?!

The office of Gov. Rick Snyder is not pleased with Bootz letter. Geralyn Lasher, spokesperson for the governor, wrote the following statement to Michigan Messenger when asked about the Bootz letter:

Governor Snyder is interested in bringing people to the table to discuss constructive ideas. Cheap publicity stunts are not constructive for the reinvention of Michigan.

Bottom line is we had a $1.5 billion deficit we had to face in Michigan to put our fiscal house in order. The target budget agreement being acted on today reduces the reductions to schools to less than 2% and asks them to participate in common-sense best practice measures to ensure efficiencies. This is a very sensible approach to such a vital part of the Michigan budget.

On the reduction side many areas of the budget are facing cuts of 10% or more so we are pleased schools were protected and held to less than 2% in reductions.

Bootz tells Michigan Messenger he was just exercising his First Amendment rights.

“I have sent my letter to about 11-12 of our legislators and the governor, and up until this point in time, I have not had any response. I know that they are busy trying to put together the budget, so I totally understand. As for the response from the governor, I have not received any response from the governor’s office.

I was not aware that voicing my opinion in a legitimate public forum was now considered a “cheap publicity stunt.” All I’m really trying to do is increase public awareness of school funding. The speed at which this message has spread via Facebook and email has surprised me. It’s just an indicator that I’ve touched a nerve with many likeminded people.

If we are truly “pushing the reset button” like Speaker Bolger has suggested this week, then this seems to be a place Michigan citizens would like to see addressed.

The less than 2% reduction is misleading. That’s for the foundation allowance reduction. Factor in the loss in federal revenue of $170 per student, and the increase in the MSPERS rate (close to $230 per student), and it’s a lot more than 2%. For my district, I’m looking at close to a $600 per student reduction that I have to budget for, which means more cuts to our programs…and we’ve been cutting programs every year for the past 5-6 years.

I respect what the legislature and the governor is trying to do, and turning around our great state is not an easy task, that’s for sure. We all agree that Michigan needs some reinvention, we just don’t necessarily agree on how to do it.”

The governor’s office is not the only officialdom questioning Bootz’s letter.

Russ Marlan, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections, says Bootz has some of the information about prisoners and the amenities they have wrong.

“They get food, health care, a roof over their heads, clothing and access to a library,” Marlan said in an email to Michigan Messenger. “They don’t have access to the Internet. They do get cable television and a weight room, but they pay for it. They can earn a degree but they have to pay for that as well.”