Category Archives: Take Action

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

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

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!

Budget Background:

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.

The Wisconsin Values Event:

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.

You’re invited (and needed!):

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.

Questions?

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

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 Committee

FROM: 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