Students Return To School After District Shutdown

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP (WWJ/AP) - Teachers and students in the financially troubled Buena Vista Schools district are returning to the classroom after the district shut earlier this month.

MLive.com reports school reopened Monday in Saginaw County's Buena Vista Township, near Saginaw.

School board members voted Friday to get the district's 27 teachers back on the job. The 400-student district hadn't held class since May 3 because it ran out of money for payroll, and teachers were laid off May 7. The cash crunch came after the state withheld aid to make up for earlier over-payments.

State schools Superintendent Mike Flanagan last week approved the district's deficit elimination plan which allows the release of $460,000 in state aid.

School board President Randy Jackson said Friday he didn't know whether the district would open next year.

The school district has been in debt since 2011, with its deficit reaching $1 million last July, the state said. In addition, the Buena Vista district will owe the state about $2 million in loans in August. Enrollment has declined from more than 900 in 2010.

Talking to WWJ last week, Buena Vista Education Association President Joe Ann Nash said disappointed teachers had offered to work unpaid for a week to give the district time to figure things out -- but were pink-slipped anyway.

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