DURAND, Mich. (Mid Michigan Gazette) — Durand Area Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a “Voluntary Severance Plan” (VSP) to combat anticipated budget concerns for the 2026-2027 school year.
Superintendent Shannon Knapp said while the district will end the 2025-2026 school year above the state-recommended 5% fund balance, she is anticipating a different story for the 2026-2027 school year due to a handful of different factors, including a projected decrease in state funding per pupil.
“What we got this year was the $442 [per pupil] and next year coming up, they’re gonna give us $250 [per pupil]…” Knapp said. “So, we’re not gonna keep the same funding for next year that we had this year. We’re already, per pupil, minus $192.”
Knapp added that the numbers could change down the line, which could work in their favor.
“If the state comes in with a $500 per pupil increase as opposed to $250, that changes the scope of this altogether,” she said. “But we don’t know that, and we may not know by June 24th, in which Stacy [Zanger] is due to have our budget done by July 1.”
Superintendent Knapp continued and said that state funding isn’t the sole issue.
“A lot of factors, mainly insurance costs; they have skyrocketed. Last year, we absorbed a 15-18% increase in insurance. We also have our salary schedule, you know 3% across the board, all of those raises, that costs money; our loss of students, when you take the graduating seniors that go out, and you bring in the kindergarten class that is smaller, that’s a loss of students.”
School administration listed a handful of scenarios to hopefully end the following school year above the 5% fund balance threshold, including the voluntary resignation incentive, a possible pay freeze, and laying off a handful of staff.
“We’re planning ahead to find solutions. Because again, we’re gonna end with a 5% so we’re not below, so we need to plan ahead and do the best for our students, our staff, and our community. That’s our job; that’s my job,” Knapp said.
The voluntary severance plan aims to give teachers an incentive if their personal circumstances bring forth the opportunity to retire or resign. Those interested will apply during the open window from June 9, 2026, until the deadline for submission of 12:00 p.m. on July 24, 2026. The payout will be 25% of the teacher’s base salary for the ’25-’26 school year and will be paid over one year, with half the payment paid in August of 2026 and the other half paid in September of 2026.
According to Knapp, the district’s administration team has already agreed to freeze their own salaries, and thus will not receive an increase next year.
“We have asked the union membership to join the administration team in a pay freeze, not a pay cut, but a pay freeze for the ’26-’27 school year,” she added. “If you take that pay freeze alone, and add it with a change in insurance, that would get us up to a 2.67% positive fund balance.”
As for staff layoffs, she added that it would be a last resort, but it is something officials are considering as they are obligated to explore all options.
“The last thing we want to do is lay off staff; that is not where we want to go. But since, again, a budget is so tight, 75-80% of budgets are staff costs. That’s not only what they get paid in their paycheck, but their insurance, their FICA, retirement. Unfortunately, the layoffs, the right-sizing, this is something we have to look at. I would be irresponsible if I didn’t look at it,” Knapp said.
Dozens of people filled Durand’s Performing Arts Center to listen to next year’s budget concerns, and a handful gave emotional statements urging the school board to avoid any layoffs.
One speaker included Cassandra Maynard, who returned to Durand to teach after graduating from there in 2005.
“I want to keep it positive, but something has gone terribly wrong here, and we teachers are being asked to correct it despite the problems being through no fault of our own,” Maynard said.
Maynard spoke about how teachers rallied around her during her time of need after the loss of her mother.
“That’s what we are in Durand; we’re family, and this is my family. Maybe that’s why the current situation hurts so much worse than it would at a bigger school.”
Another teacher, Debbie Schaefer, also gave her thoughts on the matter.
“I am concerned about the district’s current budget problems and how it is being proposed that we solve them,” Schaefer said. “As an elementary teacher, I can see how detrimental it is when elementary teaching jobs are cut, and class sizes increase.”
A handful of members of the Durand Board of Education reassured those in attendance that layoffs are not the route they want to pursue, and are searching for alternative solutions to avoid them.
Knapp mentioned that all districts are facing budget cuts, and the circumstance isn’t just a Durand issue.
“This is why many districts around us, you’re going to see they are going for millages and no-mill increases,” Knapp said. “That is because these bonds help keep money inside the classroom. You’re not taking money outside the classroom to fix the roof, to fix the bathroom, to fix this, to renovate that. It stays in the classroom — that fund balance, and then your bond has allocated money for those kinds of things: renovations, the things that districts face when they have aging facilities.”
Durand Area Schools has an information meeting on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, for a potential no-mill increase at the high school cafeteria at 6:30 p.m.
“Passing a no-mill increase, for us, will mean that needed updates and renovations to our parking lots, which everyone agrees need attention desperately,” Knapp added. “So those parking lots, the bathrooms, aging facilities can be met through a bond and not drain the fund balance.”
