Supporters address Petoskey school board to save Montessori partnership

PETOSKEY — Dozens of people piled into an overflowing meeting room on Feb. 15 to address the Public Schools of Petoskey Board of Education regarding the agreement with the Petoskey Montessori Children’s House.

The partnership between the public school district and the Montessori school has been in place since 1997, and is set to come to an end after the 2023-24 school year.

Petoskey Superintendent Jeff Leslie started the meeting with a presentation to walk the board through communications with Montessori officials in the last year, including meeting dates, who attended those meetings, and the communications that have taken place since.

There was more than an hour and 20 minutes of public comment at the start of the meeting, with those in support of maintaining the agreement stating their cases.

More: Montessori partnership with Public Schools of Petoskey likely reaching its end

The partnership allows the district to serve as employer for Montessori's elementary guide and to collect money through the per pupil allowances that come from the state.

Throughout the more than 25 years of partnership, the agreement allowed the district to collect the per pupil money and from that balance, remove the costs for an annual audit and to employ the guide — including salary, benefits and FICA. The district would then keep 20 percent of the remaining balance. The remaining 80 percent would be sent to the Montessori. Until now, the agreement has been consistently renewed, usually on a one to two year basis.

In October, Petoskey Montessori Children's House Board President Nicky Byron and Leslie signed a one-year agreement, stating the 20 percent management fee would be reduced to 5 percent, and that the 2023-24 school year would likely be the last year of the agreement. The agreement expires Aug. 31.

The agreement came after several back and forth meetings and discussions that took place during the summer months.

Throughout the presentation, Leslie stressed that the Petoskey Montessori Children's House board was unable to come to an agreement with the district in regards to the finances involved. Through the 2022-23 school year, the Montessori received $85,937 from the district, according to Leslie's presentation. This year, the Montessori received $57,339, which would’ve been $28,371 had they continued with the 20 percent management fee.

Under the agreement, students at the Montessori are counted as students in the Public Schools of Petoskey district, so the students attend tuition-free.

At the October count day, 20 students were enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, Byron told the News-Review on Tuesday. The total per pupil funding brought into the district from the Montessori’s students is $192,160, with each student bringing in $9,608 in per-pupil allowances from the state.

During the last school year, 28 students were enrolled, according to MI School Data. With a per-pupil allowance of $9,150, the district would have received $256,200.

After Leslie’s presentation, board president Mark Ashley and vice president Kathy Reed addressed the crowd.

In his comments, Ashley noted the fact that the board ending this agreement does not have to be the end of the Montessori.

“The Public Schools of Petoskey did not start Montessori and we’re not shutting it down,” Ashley said. “It’s a separate corporation. It can choose to do what it wants to do.”

The Petoskey Montessori Children’s House is an independent nonprofit and one of three AMI accredited Montessori schools in Michigan. It is the only one in Northern Michigan.

Reed added that just because this agreement is ending doesn’t mean the board disagrees with practices taught in Montessori schooling, but rather that this is just issues with business.

More: Petoskey Montessori to mark 50th anniversary with fundraising celebration

Lindsey Walker, a member of the Petoskey City Council, spoke during public comment and said the district is not a business.

“Because you are basing this on what appears to be control, and financial, just remember that you are fiduciarily responsible for public funds,” she said. “This is not a business, Kathy. And I heard you mention business. These are public funds of how we disperse tax money from the City of Petoskey.”

Petoskey Montessori Children’s House Trustee Natalie Walts also spoke to the board and addressed the financial concerns, saying the Montessori felt their students were receiving an inequitable amount of funding compared to other students within the Public Schools of Petoskey (PSP).

“For the last 25 years under the management agreement terms, PSP cut 20 percent of the State Foundation allowance that is allocated on a per student basis. That means we are educating our elementary students using 20 percent less funding than the rest of the district schools,” Walts said. "In addition, we haven't received any of the enhancement millage funds even though our students are included in the count that determines PSP’s share.”

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The atmosphere in the board room was tense during much of the meeting. Throughout Leslie's presentation, for example, members of the audience audibly reacted at certain points.

More than 30 speakers addressed the board throughout a two-hour span during two public comment opportunities. Some of those who spoke were visibly angry or emotional. There was one bout of applause in support of elementary guide Russell Carpenter, who has taught at the school since 2000.

A former Montessori board member, Matthew Lesky, said parents of students in the Montessori committed to fundraising to make up for the 20 percent of funds the district held onto in order to reach equitable funding opportunities for their children.

“Show me another school you have in your district that does that,” he said. “Look around. This is the commitment that Montessori parents have.”

Parents, students and board members alike asked the board of education to reopen negotiations and visit the school themselves.

Because of the verbiage of the current agreement, the board did not need to make a motion on the item. No new changes or decisions were made at the meeting.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Supporters address Petoskey school board to save Montessori partnership