Daily Archives: September 8, 2007

by | September 8, 2007 · 6:58 pm

We are Not Alone #16

The woes associated with the lack of action on the state budget and the fears created by the draconian GOP positions are not confined to MMSD.

This from the Prairie Farm School District:

The political wrangling has more immediate consequences, however. School districts don’t know how much state aid they will receive for their 2007-2008 budget cycles, and counties are uncertain how much in shared revenues they can count on from the state, either.

Statutes provide a guarantee that, while waiting for an official budget to be adopted, these institutions can expect to continue receiving the same compensation levels that they had enjoyed the year before. But some say that provision isn’t a cure-all.

Prairie Farm School District Superintendent Don Hauck said that his district has been affected by the bogged-down state budget. Despite a successful referendum last spring, some planned school projects, such as upgrading HVAC systems, have been placed on hold until more solid figures on 2008 state aid are available.

Hauck also noted that schools will still receive 2007 state aid levels while the 2008 budget is hammered out, but the status quo may be insufficient, since operating costs continue to rise. If more state aid for schools doesn’t materialize, then the difference might have to be made up through increased property taxes.

Thomas J. Mertz

Leave a comment

Filed under AMPS, Budget, School Finance, We Are Not Alone

by | September 8, 2007 · 6:33 pm

Why the State Budget Matters to All of Us

From the Capital Times

But school district spokesman Joe Quick said several provisions in the Assembly Republican budget could still create shortfalls or other problems for Madison schools.

Chief among those is funding for SAGE, the program that creates smaller class sizes for at-risk students. As part of a deal to allow the Milwaukee school choice program to expand, Doyle proposed increasing funding for the SAGE program by $250 per pupil. Assembly Republicans cut that money, Quick said, which would mean $716,000 less for Madison schools, Quick said.

Another GOP proposal aimed at reducing health care costs in schools would hit even harder. The Republican budget would freeze the amount local schools could raise from property taxes at $200 per student, instead of the $264 allowed by current law, if districts adopt health care plans that are more expensive than the state’s insurance plan.

That provision would force a $5 million cut because the district has already approved its contract with Madison teachers, Quick said.

“We’ve got contracts in place. We can’t lay off people now” to recoup those losses, he said. “Any cuts that would have to be made would get pushed off until the 2008-09 budget.”

This madness has to stop. Make your voices heard (info here)

Thomas J. Mertz

Leave a comment

Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action

by | September 8, 2007 · 1:42 am

Superintendent Search

From MMSD, BOE president Arlene Sliveira

Community input sought for new superintendent qualities

An Invitation to Our Parents, Students and Community

The Board of Education has initiated its search for a new superintendent of schools to replace Art Rainwater, who has announced his retirement as of June, 2008. To provide counsel to us in this important process, we have retained the services of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd., a search firm that specializes in assisting boards with the identification and selection of superintendents.

A very important step in this process is the identification of the characteristics we will be seeking in our new superintendent. We invite you to participate in the identification of these characteristics by attending a Community Information and Input Session and/or completing a Leadership Profile Assessment form which can be found below.

The Community Information and Input Sessions, which will be facilitated by a member of the consultant firm, will be held on:

Wed. Sept. 19 at 10:00 a.m. at the Exhibition Hall at Alliant Energy Center (1919 Alliant Energy Center Way)
Wed. Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at Memorial High School
Thu. Sept. 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at La Follette High School
These sessions will likely be 60 to 90 minutes in length. Every effort will be made to provide Spanish and Hmong interpreters. You can avoid a parking fee by telling the parking attendant that you are attending a Madison School District function.

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this most important task.

Sincerely,
Arlene Silveira
President, Board of Education

Spanish of text above
Hmong of text above
Leadership Profile Assessment Form
The forms below are the same. You can either,

complete a form and submit it electronically,
or
print the form , complete it by hand, and either bring it with you to one of the Community Information and Input Sessions or mail/fax it to the address/fax number indicated on the form.
All forms must be submitted by September 20.

More information
Superintendent Search Process — news release
Community input sought for new superintendent qualities — news release

I just gave it my first try — this is hard!

The form is OK, although I have problems with some items and problems with the whole rank 1-14 approach (I’d much rather rank each item on a scale, say 1-5 than give an absolute 1-14 weight). This item:

Understands the respective, yet complementary, roles of the Board and the Superintendent

really bugs me. The implication is that this is fixed and absolute. It isn’t and it shouldn’t be. The individuals involved and the circumstances they face create a dynamic that continually changes. The line between undue deference to administrators and micromanagement by Board members isn’t clear and never will be. With only 14 items, this is a waste of space and time. What would it tell anyone if we all rated this #1 (or #14)? A waste.

The toughest one is:

Tell us your vision for the School District for the future.

That’s the one that made me give up and decide to go back later after some thought.

What’s your reaction (use the comments)?

Thomas J. Mertz

1 Comment

Filed under AMPS, Best Practices, Contracts, Local News