Not an offer you can’t refuse.
The Republican’s have sketched their new line in the sand on the education portions of the state budget (the linked document references this Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis).
There is a very little movement and the GOP is still clinging to limiting the growth of the revenue caps to $200 per member. The rhetorical bait and switch on school funding, state contributions and property taxes also remains.
Keep those cards, emails and calls going.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action
By State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster
“Simply put, the budget advanced by Senate Democrats is the better budget for Wisconsin schools. The Assembly passed a budget that does not address our schools’ current fiscal challenges, and, in fact, would result in fewer resources and devastating cuts. With some school districts struggling to stay open, it is time to work on a state budget that truly provides the resources needed for the quality education that our students, parents, educators, and communities expect and deserve.”
continues…
Robert Godfrey
Filed under AMPS, Budget, No Child Left Behind, Quote of the Day, School Finance
From Vicky Selkowe:
If you’re feeling frustrated about the state budget and are worried about the competing visions for our state being debated in the state legislature, then we need you to join us tomorrow for a Wisconsin Values Event at the Capitol. Short & sweet, done in 30-45 minutes (and then you can stop by a budget conference committee member’s office to deliver a message about what the state budget should REALLY prioritize…) We need a big crowd there tomorrow to highlight these values and show the collective strength of all these organizations & individuals – hope you can join us. Call me with any questions – 284-0580, ext. 326 or 772-6046.
Help Ensure Wisconsin’s Budget Reflects Our Values!
Join us for the Wisconsin Values Event
State Capitol Building, Senate Parlor
Thursday, July 26th @ 11:00 a.m.
The Wisconsin Values Event: A large and diverse set of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents are coming together this Thursday, July 26th for this Wisconsin Values event to provide an opportunity for policy-makers, the public and the media to hear from individuals whose daily lives are impacted by the decisions on this budget.
The organizations involved are united around the following Wisconsin values:
*Wisconsin values high quality early care and education and access to that care for all children, regardless of their parents’ income;
*Wisconsin values safe children, nurturing communities and supports for those with disabilities;
*Wisconsin values quality, affordable health care for all residents;
*Wisconsin values access to higher education; and
*Wisconsin values strong public schools.
Hope to see you on Thursday, July 26th in the State Capitol to ensure that the legislature hears our united voices calling on them to preserve our Wisconsin values!
Robert Godfrey
Update: K-12 education is a major focus of this event. One of the speakers is a Milwaukee Public Schools kindergarten teacher.
Filed under AMPS, Budget, School Finance, Take Action
via Vicky Selkowe, Wisconsin Council on Children & Families
Help Ensure Wisconsin’s Budget Reflects Our Values!
Wisconsin Values Event
State Capitol Building , Senate Parlor
Thursday, July 26th @ 11:00 a.m.
Join us in Madison for this important & timely event!
The Wisconsin legislature is continuing its work on the state budget. The eight legislators who make up the conference committee (see bottom of this email for names & contact information) are expected to start their work on the state budget very soon. They face the daunting task of trying to reconcile the vastly different Senate and Assembly versions of the budget – budgets with very different priorities and competing visions for our state’s future. Whatever budget document the conference committee comes up with goes back to the Senate and the Assembly for up or down votes (no amendments, or changes, are allowed) and then to the Governor – making the work of the conference committee tremendously important.
A large and diverse set of organizations (including AARP, AFT, WEAC, the Survival Coalition, Make It Work Milwaukee! Coalition, Wisconsin Counties Association, WI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families) are coming together this Thursday, July 26th for this Wisconsin Values event to ask the state legislature to ensure that the state budget is firmly rooted in the values that have made Wisconsin great. As the legislature’s conference committee begins its deliberations, we raise our united voices to ask legislators to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.
To ensure that the state legislature sees the strength represented in our collective voices, we need you to join us at the Capitol this Thursday morning for this important event! The event will last less than an hour, and participants will then stop by conference committee members’ offices to deliver a Wisconsin Values message about the budget. Your participation in this event is critically important and we hope you can take the time to join us.
If you’re unable to join us in person on Thursday, we need you to take just FIVE minutes THIS WEEK to call or email your own legislators and also write to the leaders of the conference committee, Sen. Judy Robson and Rep. Mike Huebsch. (If you have time to send a message to all members of the conference committee, that’d be great, but if you have limited time, please just write to Sen. Robson & Rep. Huebsch.) Make sure they know what YOU value and urge them to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.
Contact Vicky Selkowe at WCCF at vselkowe@wccf.org or (608) 284-0580, ext. 326.
Hope to see you on Thursday, July 26th in the State Capitol to ensure that the legislature hears our united voices calling on them to preserve our Wisconsin values!
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action
I think everyone in Wisconsin’s hearts went out to the community of Weston earlier this year when principal John Klang was killed. I hope that our state officials also show compassion for Weston and other districts suffering from the relentless toll of a broken state school finance system.
The headline is familiar: “Weston gets bad budget news.” The details are familiar too:
“We have to decide as a board and a community if we want to go to a referendum,” Andres said.
Despite being in the hole, the board is not looking to tighten its belt further to get out.
“We have very few areas where we could look to cut. We’re not recommending anymore cuts,” the superintendent said.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 29, 2006, school shooting at Weston the district was awarded numerous grants that were largely spent on security measures. Weston has made cuts over the years, including no longer offering home economics classes and reducing the music program to one staff member. The district has not held a referendum in recent years, unlike neighboring districts Reedsburg, Baraboo and Sauk Prairie.
“I don’t know of any neighboring district in the past eight to nine years that has not had a referendum,” Terry Milfred said. Milfred is Weston’s former superintendent and served on the board until June 2007.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Referenda, School Finance, Take Action, We Are Not Alone
A memo delivered to the Governor and our legislative delegation by MMSD. These would serve as good talking points when (not if!) you call or write your Reps, the Conference Committee or the Senate and Assembly leadership.
Thomas J. Mertz
Key K-12 budget provisions for Madison Schools
TO: Members of the 2007-09 Budget Conference CommitteeFROM: Joe Quick, MMSD Legislative Liaison/Communication Specialist
DATE: July 18, 2007
RE: Key K-12 budget provisions for Madison Schools
Wisconsin’s school districts face a monumental challenge: continued pursuit of academic improvement by students, under the pressure of annual decreases in resources due to state-imposed revenue limits. While general school aids have increased annually, the resources are not targeted to classrooms.
Since the first year of revenue limits in 1993-94, Madison Schools have pared over $60 million from its annual cost-to-continue budget. This has forced larger class size at all grade levels, curtailed services for children in special education, diminished course offerings and extracurricular opportunities for children, and many other detrimental affects. Empty rhetoric maintaining that school officials need to find more “creative” ways to provide more with less is disingenuous, and harmful to our state’s premier K-12 system.
The following lists critical elements of the K-12 budget important for Madison Schools.
Allowable Revenue Limit Increase — Support the Senate position to provide an inflation-adjusted per pupil increase of $264 in 07-08 and $270 in 08-09. Where is the logic in penalizing a school district with an allowable $200 per student revenue limit increase because a district has already settled 2007-08 and 2008-09 contracts, as is the case with Madison and a few dozen other districts?
SAGE — Support the Senate position, ensuring the $250 per pupil increase for SAGE students — the first increase in the program’s 10-year history. This is in accord with the agreement between the Governor and legislative Republicans in 2006, as part of the Milwaukee voucher program enrollment expansion. Oppose Assembly action to dismantle SAGE by making 2nd and 3rd grade optional.
School Safety — Support the Senate position to provide revenue limit flexibility to help ensure safety for school staff and students, by allowing $100 per pupil to be spent — outside the revenue limits — for the critical needs of school safety equipment/personnel.
Bilingual-Bicultural Aid — Support the Senate position, which provides enough funding to maintain the inadequate resources for this state and federally mandated program. When revenue limits began, school districts were reimbursed by the state for 33% of related program expenses. With the additional funds recommended by the Governor and supported by the Senate, the reimbursement remains at 12%.
Special Education Aid — Support the Senate position to increase special education aid by $53.6 million, nudging the state support for special education to 29% by the end of the biennium. When revenue limits began, districts were reimbursed for almost 45% of costs.
Combined, since the inception of revenue limits, the diminished state reimbursement for SPED and bilingual-bicultural aid to Madison Schools translated to a loss of $11.6 million in resources for 2006-07. The District estimates it will have to cut $5-7 million from its “cost to continue” budget for 2008-09 in order to comply with revenue limits.
School Breakfast reimbursement — Support the Senate position to increase by five cents the reimbursement from $0.10 to $0.15 per meal served.
Chapter 220 — Oppose Assembly provision to eliminate the program, a loss of nearly $500,000 for Madison Schools.
Policy Items — Delete policy items in the K-12 portion of the budget, including, but not limited to: school referenda elections, the “autism scholarship” program, distribution of Common School Fund resources to school districts, elimination of the Qualified Economic Offer, and, the expansion of the Milwaukee voucher program to all of Milwaukee County and Racine County.
If you have questions about these positions, or would like more information, please contact me at 663-1902.
C: Madison Legislative Delegation
Gov. Jim Doyle
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action
From the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools:
Hopes for early state budget fade into the distance
School districts lose under Assembly version of the budget
“Extra” Assembly school aid goes to taxpayers, not kids
School-funding reform calendar
The Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) is a statewide network of educators, school board members, parents, community leaders, and researchers. Its Wisconsin Adequacy Plan — a proposal for school-finance reform — is the result of research into the cost of educating children to meet state proficiency standards.
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Hopes for early budget fade into the distance
It seems to happen every two years: Wisconsin gets into the budget season, the rhetoric begin to fly, and … before you know it … school-funding reform once again recedes into the background and the crisis continues to grow. This budget cycle is no exception, and it could go on for quite a while.
The Senate and the Assembly passed vastly different versions of the budget — by some reports up to $10 billion apart — along party lines. Additionally, the policy focus of the budgets is quite different, leading many to believe it could be well into the fall before a conference committee agrees on a compromise budget and sends it to both houses and eventually the Governor for approval.
Your best bet to follow news coverage of the budget process is to log into your hometown newspaper or go to one of two excellent statewide sites and follow the links. Your choices are The Wheeler Report or wispolitics.com.
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School districts lose under Assembly version of the budget
Depending upon your party affiliation, political or social point-of-view, or how much stake you put in the need for adequate school funding, the differing versions of the 2007-09 budget are the best and worst of all possible worlds.
If you want to wade through the hundreds of pages in both the Senate and Assembly versions, go here. The sad fact is that once the numbers are run through the filter of the Assembly budget, every district in the state loses or stands pat in the revenue limit formula.
Also analyzing the Assembly version of the budget are: WEAC; the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance; and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families You can also find analysis on the websites of The Wheeler Report or wispolitics.com.
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“Extra” Assembly school aid goes to taxpayers, not kids
Between passage of the budget and the start of the work of the conference committee, points and counterpoints have been flying between legislators, especially over what the budget really means to Wisconsin public school districts.
One claim being made by many legislators is that the Assembly budget actually puts more money into public schools … more money, for example, than the Governor’s budget.
One such claim was made by Assembly Education Committee chair and 80th Assembly District Rep. Brett Davis. Reacting to 79th Assembly District Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts criticizing him for comments during the budget debate, Rep. Davis said the Assembly actually put more state money into the budget for schools than the Governor asked for.
Technically, he was right. The Assembly budget reduced the amount of school aid in the Joint Finance Committee version by $85 million and did increase the state share of school funding by $200 million over two years — with the key phrase being state share. What Rep. Davis didn’t say was that the net effect of the Assembly action was to take money away from public school children. Every cent of the $200 million increase went for property tax relief (bringing the total to just short of $800 million). Not one penny went into a classroom or to a child.
As Rep. Pope-Roberts said, “You’d have to be delusional to divert money from students and classrooms, squander it on tax cuts, and still call it an ‘investment in education.'” Another take on the Pope-Roberts vs. Davis debate can be found here.
After taking a look at the Assembly budget, the budget coverage, the budget analysis, the budget comment, and the budget vote, please contact your state representatives and let them know what you think. To find out who represents you, go to http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/. Remember, this is the starting point for the compromise our schools will have to live with for the next two years.
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Help us better serve you by letting us know when you change e-mail addresses. In that way we can stop sending the update to the old one and switch over to the new one as soon as possible.
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School-funding reform calendar
Sept. 8 — Jack Norman, IWF research director, will be part of a discussion on TABOR and school funding at Fighting Bob Fest (http://www.fightingbobfest.org/), noon, at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo (follow the link to “getting there” at the website)
Sept. 13 — School-funding reform presentation at Hayward High School, details to follow
Sept. 20 — School-funding reform presentation for District 1 of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, 10 a.m. at the Behring Senior Center, 113 10th St., Monroe
Sept. 20 — School-funding reform presentation for the Manitowoc League of Women’s Voters, 7 p.m., other details to follow
Oct. 23 — School-funding reform presentation for the Janesville Retired Educators Association
Please feel free to share your copy of the WAES school-funding update with anyone interested in school-finance reform. Contact Tom Beebe (tbeebe@wisconsinsfuture.org) at 414-384-9094 for details.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Pope-Roberts/Breske Resolution, School Finance, Take Action
The biggest news is the appointment of the Budget Conference Committee. Here are the members’ home pages:
Senate
Judy Robson (D)
Russell Decker (D)
Robert Jauch (D)
Scott Fitzgerald (R)
Assembly
Michael Huebsch (R)
Kitty Rhoades (R)
Jeff Fitzgerald (R)
James Kreuser (D)
Not really news, but I think it is timely to give a plug for the Take Back the Assembly project.
In Effect is optimistic (more here and some good links in both):
Sure, a handful of Republicans in the Assembly will hold out for a budget like this one, but enough will ultimately side with a budget that looks far more like what came out of the JFC last month.
Adam Wise (Wisconsin Rapids Tribune) correctly locates education issues at the center of the budget conflicts.
WCLO (Janesville) reports that “Assembly budget would hurt many school districts.”
The Herald Times (Manitowoc) editorializes “Major policy issues don’t belong in budgeting process.”
The Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee) saw through the GOP rhetoric on school funding and correctly reported “Assembly aims to limit taxes, as well as school funds.”
The Beloit daily News continues this theme with the story: “Proposed budget hurts schools.”
The Appleton Post Crescent reports on the partisanship of the process but also includes a reminder that the state GOP is not all on board with the extremism of the Assembly budget.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna sided with the governor, literally, at a news conference at an Appleton fire station.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything the governor has to say, but I do agree that that what’s in the Republican Assembly package would be bad for Appleton and it would be bad for the state,” said Hanna, a longtime Republican. “However, I believe the Senate Democratic package is just as extreme on the other end.”
More reports and press releases from the Governor’s swing around the state:
Milwaukee, Madison, Superior, La Crosse, Wausau, and Kenosha.
As always, the WisPolitics Budget Blog has more.
Don’t forget to let your Reps and Senators know how you feel.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Elections, Local News, School Finance, Take Action
I’m going to post more state budget links as soon as I get a chance. Just an observation for now.
The Assembly budget is a GOP policy wish list. It is extreme. The Senate budget, with the possible exception of the Healthy Wisconsin initiative is a little left of center, but hardly a left wing document. The JFC and Gov. Doyle’s budgets were even more centrist.
Now the fun comes. As the conference committee works to reach an agreement the first and maybe only issue is where the center is, where the compromises will be. All the Democrats involved moved toward the center with their initial proposals, adopting for the most part realistic proposals. In contrast the GOP controlled Assembly swung for the fences. If the conference committee seeks a middle ground, the GOP will have won. The Dems need to adopt a stand firm and “give no quarter” stance (with the possible exception of Healthy Wisconsin). This won’t be easy and may be a tough play on the public opinion front, but anything else is a clear win for the extremists in the GOP and a clear loss for the people of Wisconsin.
Thomas J. Mertz
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance
From Ruth Page Jones, Project ABC (Waukesha)
Hello,
Thanks to those who wrote or called our Assembly representatives about the budget. Unfortunately, they didn’t listen. But we must continue to share our views with them.
Some of you received responses like this:
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know your thoughts regarding this important issue. By way of information, the Assembly Republican budget expected to be passed today actually increases K-12 funding by $464 million dollars over the last budget. Rest assured, I will be certain to keep your support for even greater funding at the forefront of my considerations as budget deliberations continue.
Here’s what they really did. I have submitted this as a Guest Editorial to the Waukesha Freeman.
When the Assembly passed their budget this week, the Republican majority voted to short-change children in the classrooms of our public schools. Dept. of Administration analysis indicates Waukesha schools would endure an additional $2.6 million revenue loss, and the firing of 35.4 more teachers over the next two years. Elmbrook would suffer losses of $1.3 million, Muskego-Norway and New Berlin $.9 million, Kettle-Morraine $.8 million and Pewaukee $.4 million. Waukesha’s losses are in addition to the $3.5 million cuts made this spring and projected again for next spring.
In the Freeman on July 9, Rep Bill Kramer implies their plan will benefit schools:
“Although the proposal lists an $85 million cut in public education, Kramer said, the money is directed more at classroom initiatives and spends more than Doyle’s plan”. However —
-“directed at classroom initiatives” really means it takes money from students and classrooms.
-“spends more than Doyle’s plan” really means they put more state money into property tax relief, not classrooms. The Governor included $100 million in tax relief in his budget. The Republican budget adds another $100 million to the tax levy credit for taxpayers, while taking away $85
million from students and classrooms. The extra money going for tax relief lets them say ‘the state is spending more’.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘more state spending’ means more money into education! When the Assembly politicians talk about ‘the state spending more’- they refer to who is paying, not what we are buying. This is only about the 2/3 formula and what percent of school spending is paid by the state and what percent is paid by homeowners.
This has no relationship whatsoever to school budgets. If a school budget is $100, there is zero effect in the classroom when the state/homeowner share of costs changes from $55/$45 to $66/$34. It’s when they reduce the $100, which is what the Assembly did, that you will see an effect in the classroom.
Their Assembly revenue limit increase is actually less than the Governor proposed (Assembly – $200 per pupil increase vs Governor – $264 per pupil increase). It forces more budget cuts because it increases the gap between state-dictated school revenue and state-mandated inflation costs. They also cut money in a special fund, not subject to revenue limits, that would have helped us.
If this budget actually passes, the school district will be cutting again before school starts, after we already cut the $3.5 million this spring and after teacher renewal contracts have been signed. Cuts needed for this fall would have to come from aides or non-teacher expenses. Teacher’s make up 85% of the budget – what is there to cut?
Simply put, with this Republican Assembly budget, schools get less, the state pays more, some homeowners get a little tax relief, and the politicians get to claim they ‘spent more money on schools’. It’s all about taxes and politics and nothing about supporting public schools.
These politicians are going to work hard to convince the public that their budget is good for schools. IT IS NOT!!! ” Their budget is a shell game of taxes and politics, at the expense of our children’s education.”
Make the case to properly fund schools to our elected officials, to your friends and neighbors, and on the editorial page of the local newspaper. Grassroots outrage on the immigration bill changed the outcome in Washington. Grassroots outrage is the only thing that can change this outcome. The future of Wisconsin depends upon it.
—
Advocates for a Strong School System in Waukesha
Project ABC, Advocating on Behalf of Children
Ruth Page Jones, President
PO Box 1994, Waukesha, WI 53187-1994
262 521-2788
projectabc@projectabc.org
http://www.projectabc.org
Posted by Thomas J. Mertz (Thanks to Deb Gurke, ABC Madison: ABCMadisonschools@yahoo.com)
Filed under AMPS, Budget, Gimme Some Truth, School Finance, Take Action
Fund a Classroom Project in Madison
AMPS 