What’s wrong with school funding? Explaining this to voters
is difficult.
Try explaining it to a ninth grader who is losing a favorite
teacher. The teacher is not retiring. At 53 and after teaching for 29 years, he
lost his job.
Recently I spent a day teaching high school students about
school funding and the state budget. Later that day I presented similar
material to staff and school board members. I learned much more than the
students did during my day as teacher.
Prescott considers itself a suburb of Saint Paul. Only 20
minutes away, folks go to church, shop, and read the newspaper from the Twin
Cities. Few hear news from Madison.
However, Wisconsin’s convoluted school funding formula is
now the topic of conversation.
Prescott school district lost a referendum in February.
Voters will soon decide another – the 27th referenda in just 15 years!
“Between building and levy-cap votes I lost track of the
count,” Mandy wrote to me describing the problem. I’m not surprised she lost
count.
With the failed referendum, officials made hard decisions.
They cut programs at the middle school. Cuts were made to music (lost 1.5
teachers), business and computer classes. Officials cut back on high school
art, career and technical education and business education.
Because of the failed referendum, ten percent of the budget
is gone next year. Ironically, 10% of Prescott’s budget is nearly the same
amount as Prescott’s share of the 2011 historic cut to state aid to schools.
If the new vote fails, over-crowding and temporary
classrooms become permanent, faculty will be lost, students within the city
limits will not be bussed, sports and extra-curricular activities will require
fees. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, and because the new referendum is
only a fifth the size of the original, many great teachers will still lose
their jobs. Students will have fewer opportunities in such important areas as
business education, math and technical education.
Prescott High exists because of referenda. Years ago, voters
chose to build a high school. Then two years ago, voters supported building a
new high school when enrollment increased and overcrowding in the middle school
showed clear signs of tight quarters to come.
Just two months before the 2014 referendum to build the new
high school, Prescott’s future looked prosperous. Governor Walker and local
leaders celebrated the opening of a new 300,000 square foot distribution
center. The Governor hyped “500 jobs that could have gone elsewhere.” His press
release cited $3.5 million in state dollars assigned to lure the company to
Prescott with the promise of jobs.
Evidently, no one asked if the company would also import its
workforce.
Most of the employees who work for the company in Wisconsin
are the same people who worked there when it was located in Bloomington,
Minnesota. Only now, they cross the river to get to work.
Few new local jobs and anticipated housing starts not
materializing meant the expected increase in school enrollment did not happen.
Fewer students results in less state aid. Costs of operating the new high
school and increasing costs to maintain other buildings means some teachers and
programs had to go.
The district is in the confusing position of having a new
high school building and cutting teachers. Voters may raise property taxes only
to see fewer dollars available for the district as enrollment drops.
Prescott is a poster child for all that’s wrong with
Wisconsin’s school funding system and is why I am fighting to fix it.
By the time you read this, likely the Prescott referendum
votes will be counted. While passage of the referendum is essential for
continued operations, it will only bring the revenue limit back to where it is
now.
As I left the Prescott High parking lot, I watched one of
the terminated teachers carrying a box of personal items to his truck. I
observed talented young athletes compete at a track meet. I could not help but
wonder if Prescott voters realized the deep connection between decisions made
by majority lawmakers in Madison and the loss of teachers, the new fees for
athletics, and even the existence of the school referendum.
Elections have consequences. Those consequences can cut to
the heart of a community.
Phone:(608) 266-8546
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment