Dear Ann Arbor Public Schools Community,
As we return from spring break, I want to provide you with an update on the community meetings originally scheduled for April 8. We have received significant feedback regarding both accommodating the many events staff and families have scheduled for the historic solar eclipse on April 8 and expanding access to the community meeting for people who cannot attend in person. To better meet the needs of all in our community, we are shifting the meeting date and format originally scheduled on April 8 to a virtual town hall meeting on April 15 at 6:30 PM instead. This change will allow us to accommodate staff and families that cannot attend an in-person meeting as well as honor the requests to schedule the meetings after the upcoming historic solar eclipse and important religious holidays. The meeting will be recorded so AAPS community members will be able to view it at a time that meets their schedule if they cannot watch it live. During the virtual town hall, we will share a brief presentation and then answer questions from our staff and community. We will share more information about the format for April 15 as we get closer to the date.
We are appreciative of members of our learning community who have taken the time to participate in our survey seeking feedback about our spending plan and efforts to reduce costs. Over 3,100 people have responded to our community survey, which will be open through Friday, April 5. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to share your feedback through this online survey. Every response is being reviewed and this input will help shape our efforts to address the budget shortfall.
As you likely know, projected multi-year budget shortfalls will require immediate and long-term actions. According to our financial analysis, the district will need to cut approximately $25 million from the 2024-25 operating budget to comply with state and Board of Education requirements. I encourage you to read the previous communication regarding immediate and long-term steps we are taking to address this situation. I am committed to keeping our staff, families and students informed throughout this challenging period. I also remain committed to bringing the facts to light on how we arrived at our current situation. As shared in previous communications, we have engaged the accounting firm Plante Moran to perform a thorough, independent review so we have an accurate picture of our fiscal challenges, and we help prevent situations like this from happening in the future. This independent review is in progress and we expect it to be completed in the near future.
We continue to update the Frequently Asked Questions document on our website as questions come in from our community. I encourage you to review this document and we welcome your feedback and continued questions.
Again, we appreciate your feedback, ideas and input, which we are using to help inform us of our next steps. We will continue to keep our families, staff, students, and community up to date with information about this situation. I remain confident that by working together and remaining united we can face this challenge and emerge stronger.
Jazz Parks
Interim Superintendent
Ann Arbor Public Schools
