School Superintendent Gets Raises And Funding Hikes, Complains Funding 'Broken'

Newaygo County public school official Lori Tubbergen Clark recently wrote a commentary for Bridge Magazine, saying that Michigan's approach to funding education was "broken."

“Under Michigan’s broken school funding approach, our kids will only continue falling behind,” wrote Clark, who is the superintendent of the county Regional Education Service Agency. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to educating our kids, and it’s time for a new, fairer approach that recognizes every child is a winner.”

There are three regular school districts that serve more than 1,000 students within Clark’s intermediate school district: Grant Public Schools, Fremont Public Schools and Newaygo Public Schools. Even after adjusting for inflation, all three have seen significant state funding growth from 2011-12 to 2018-19.

In the 2011-12 school year, Grant Public Schools received the per-pupil equivalent of $7,892 in 2018 dollars, when adjusted for inflation. By 2018-19 this had risen to $8,557 per student, an 8.4% increase, or $665 more for every student.

Newaygo Public Schools’ inflation-adjusted per-pupil funding increased from $6,691 to $7,388 over that seven-year span. That $697 more per student represent a real 10.4% funding increase.

Fremont Public Schools’ per-pupil funding increased from $7,197 to $8,112 over that seven-year period. That’s a real gain of 12.7%, or $915 more per pupil after adjusting for inflation.

And Clark has personally benefitted from the rise of school funding over several years. In 2013-14, her total salary was $149,357. Over the next four years, annual increases brought her gross salary to $151,426; $154,098; $171,231;and $157,283, respectively. The salary figures are what the county education agency reported to the Office of Retirement Services. In addition to being eligible for a Michigan school pension, Clark benefited from a $26,069 contribution her employer made to her annuity in 2018.