Highlights from the May 31 and June 12 budget presentations, more parents speak about problems at Eisenhower, Task Force 2075, and Megan Fox sues the school board.
If there is such a budget crisis, why did the board give 12% raises to teachers for this year? You can not sustain that large of an amount annually. Regarding discipline, the district has moved towards a model where the rules are different depending on the color of your skin….sorry, but naughty doesn’t know a color and when you ignore the actions of certain kids and things go downhill, there is no one to blame but yourself.
I was an administrator in the district for almost 20 years and it is just sad to see the failings of the school board and district administration. Just saw news that they are considering closing Jefferson and Washington, with that info being sent in an email to staff during the middle of the day. So glad to be retired so I can just watch the ship sink…..it’s sad.
The history of Wisconsin school financing can be a fascinating and frustrating subject. School revenue limits were initially implemented to deal with funding equity issues in 1993. What the legislature did actually allowed higher spending districts to increase per pupil spending by a greater amount than lower spending districts This resulted in the class action suit, Vincent vs. Voight challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s school finance system. This was filed because of the Wisconsin state constitution statement that "the legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable….”. The finance equity issues have revolved around the phrase "nearly uniform as practicable" and the large variance of property values. The fact that school districts can exceed the revenue limits through local referendums that allow them to increase their local property tax rate complicates the issue.
Some of these problems would be eliminated if our state legislature was not determined to starve out public education in favor of choice and charter schools. For that, we need to start voting for people who support public schools. The result of the shortfall in funds is the creation of stress and disagreement on what items can or should be cut from the budget. It strikes me that there is a lack of partnership among the board, the school administration and parents in trying to resolve these problems. There is also the element of hostility associated with culture war ideas as highlighted by the lawsuit brought by Ms. Fox.
The amount the revenue limits would be increased each year is dependent on the number of resident students attending the school district and the per pupil revenue limit.. Using the potential resident enrollment numbers provided by the school district and the per pupil revenue limit increases approved by the state legislature, the school district would have an increased revenue limit approximately $1.9 million higher next year and an additional $1.9 million higher the following year.
If there is such a budget crisis, why did the board give 12% raises to teachers for this year? You can not sustain that large of an amount annually. Regarding discipline, the district has moved towards a model where the rules are different depending on the color of your skin….sorry, but naughty doesn’t know a color and when you ignore the actions of certain kids and things go downhill, there is no one to blame but yourself.
I was an administrator in the district for almost 20 years and it is just sad to see the failings of the school board and district administration. Just saw news that they are considering closing Jefferson and Washington, with that info being sent in an email to staff during the middle of the day. So glad to be retired so I can just watch the ship sink…..it’s sad.
The history of Wisconsin school financing can be a fascinating and frustrating subject. School revenue limits were initially implemented to deal with funding equity issues in 1993. What the legislature did actually allowed higher spending districts to increase per pupil spending by a greater amount than lower spending districts This resulted in the class action suit, Vincent vs. Voight challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s school finance system. This was filed because of the Wisconsin state constitution statement that "the legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of district schools, which shall be as nearly uniform as practicable….”. The finance equity issues have revolved around the phrase "nearly uniform as practicable" and the large variance of property values. The fact that school districts can exceed the revenue limits through local referendums that allow them to increase their local property tax rate complicates the issue.
Some of these problems would be eliminated if our state legislature was not determined to starve out public education in favor of choice and charter schools. For that, we need to start voting for people who support public schools. The result of the shortfall in funds is the creation of stress and disagreement on what items can or should be cut from the budget. It strikes me that there is a lack of partnership among the board, the school administration and parents in trying to resolve these problems. There is also the element of hostility associated with culture war ideas as highlighted by the lawsuit brought by Ms. Fox.
The amount the revenue limits would be increased each year is dependent on the number of resident students attending the school district and the per pupil revenue limit.. Using the potential resident enrollment numbers provided by the school district and the per pupil revenue limit increases approved by the state legislature, the school district would have an increased revenue limit approximately $1.9 million higher next year and an additional $1.9 million higher the following year.