The school has faced some tough challenges in the past year.
By Emily Pace
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 7:13 p.m.
Read more: Local, Economy, Business, Education, Community, Governor Granholm, Grand Marais, Burt Township School District, Burt Township School
GRAND MARAIS -- Last week, Governor Granholm vetoed K-12 school aid payments to 39 districts. Burt Township School District was on the list -- losing close to $12,000.
The district is like any other, in that, they're having to make painful cuts to avoid a budget deficit.
Due to their small size, the district doesn't receive funding based on per pupil, like most other schools in the state. They get funding through a different formula.
"If we would of lost 10 students and we were depending on our per pupil foundation allowance, for us, that's about $100,000. Our total budget is around $800,000," said superintendent Penny Barney.
Last year, the district made the decision to go out of formula.
The one sacrifice we had to make is that we could no longer provide transportation outside of the county line," said Seth Hoopingarner
And because of that, the district's enrollment is down from 63 to 22 students in grades K-12.
They've also had to reduce staff; down from seven teachers to four full-time and one part-time.
According to the superintendent, it's the most drastic loss that the district has ever had to deal with.
The teachers who've remained are struggling to fill the gaps.
"I'm not trained in art and I'm not trained in music," says teacher Dixie McCormick, "and I know that they're always missing out on something."
Although the district has had to make compromises because of a shrinking budget, one thing they won't risk, is losing the school altogether.
