Category Archives: We Are Not Alone

by | November 8, 2007 · 5:41 pm

Ohio Goes After Charter Schools That Are Failing

The New York Times chronicles the wide spread phenomenon of failing charter schools in Ohio.

Ohio became a test tube for the nation’s charter school movement during a decade of Republican rule here, when a wide-open authorization system and plenty of government seed money led to the schools’ explosive proliferation.

But their record has been spotty. This year, the state’s school report card gave more than half of Ohio’s 328 charter schools a D or an F.

Now its Democratic governor and attorney general, elected when Democrats won five of Ohio’s six top posts last November, are cracking down on the schools, which receive public money but are run by independent operators. And across the country, charter school advocates are watching nervously, fearful the backlash could spread.

Some 4,000 charter schools now operate across the nation, most advertising themselves as a smaller, safer alternative to the neighborhood school. Nationwide, the movement has gained traction among Democrats, partly because of the successes of a few quality nonprofit operators.

But some charters are mediocre, and Ohio has a far higher failure rate than most states. Fifty-seven percent of its charter schools, most of which are in cities, are in academic watch or emergency, compared with 43 percent of traditional public schools in Ohio’s big cities.

Behind the Ohio charter failures are systemic weaknesses that include loopholes in oversight, a law allowing 70 government and private agencies to authorize new charters, and financial incentives that encourage sponsors to let schools stay open.

Robert Godfrey

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by | November 7, 2007 · 5:42 pm

Election Roundup

The biggest news is the overwhelming rejection of a statewide voucher plan in Utah.

Washington State has a requirement of a 60% super majority for school levies. There was a ballot measure to require only a simple majority. Returns aren’t final, but it appears to be failing. More info here.

Update: Voters say no to simple majority.

Many, many referenda in Minnesota (99 total, the second most in state history). 67.6% of the operating levy referenda passed; 50% of the districts asking for bond referenda and capital projects passed at least one request. For more, see these links:

Districts reel from levy failures

School levy wins don’t quiet calls for more state cash

School funding advocates offer day-after commentary on school levy elections

Latest: What’s next for schools? For many, plans for next referendum

Complete list of School Districts’ Referendum Results ( Minnesota School Boards Association)

Closer to home, there were a number of school referenda on the ballot Tuesday (and a few others, from September and October).

Voters Approve Abbotsford School Referendum (building).

Abbotsford passes $12 million building referendum

Denmark referendum fails for fourth time (building, maintenance and operation).

Galesville-Ettrick Voters Pass School Referendums (building).

Genoa City (building — I can’t find a report yet, but it passed, 250-227). Update: ‘Yes’ to school project.

Hartford voters reject school referendums (building and operating).

Holmen voters approve both school referendum questions (building and operation).

Lake Mills board members review failed referendum (10/2/07, building, maintenance, technology).

Montello considers program cuts (9/11/07, building and operating, failed).

New Glarus School Referendum Passes by 11 Votes (10/09/07, operating, see also here on AMPS).

Voters pass Prairie du Chien school issues (10/30/07, building and refinance).

Prescott school referendum passes (operating).

New Sun Prairie school approved (pool and pool operating failed).

West Bend rejects school referendum: It would have been state’s largest (building).

Park Falls/Butternut consolidation — Butternut voters reject Park Falls/Butternut consolidation (Park Falls voters voted yes, 965-389). More on Park Falls on AMPS here).

Thomas J. Mertz

(updated, 11/07/2007, 7:10 PM)

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by | October 20, 2007 · 4:10 am

You Haven’t Done Nothin’

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
“You haven’t done nothing”!

Stevie Wonder (listen)

The state budget deal has been announced. There are some good things for the schools, but the basic structure — with all the problems it causes — remains. Madison will have about a $5 million annual gap between allowed revenues and the cost to continue the same services. The kids in Park Falls will still have to do without so much that that they deserve. Glidden will continue to experience “educational amputations.” Districts all over the state will engage in divisive fights about which cuts will do the least harm, while few will be able concentrate on finding ways to do more good.

In my heart I know many legislators and probably the Governor want to do right by the schools, want to give Wisconsin a system that puts education first, a system we can be proud of. However, right now I look at the band aids in the much delayed budget and start humming “You haven’t done nothin.”

Thomas J. Mertz

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by | October 3, 2007 · 12:41 am

We are not alone #17

Things have been bad in Park Falls for a long time. A $850,000 referendum failed in April. After that they announced an unbelievable set of cuts:

  • Reduce staff by one full-time staff member in the district offices.
  • Reduce staff by one half-time staff member in the elementary school office and one half-time staff member in the high school office.
  • Reduce by one maintenance position.
  • Reduce by one transportation position.
  • Reduce by 1-1/2 food service positions.
  • Reduce by one high school history teacher, one elementary and middle school guidance counselor, one high school technical education teacher, one half-time middle school consumer education teacher, one elementary alone.gifmusic teacher, one half-time high school physical education teacher, one half-time high school English teacher, one elementary school teacher, one .6-time middle school music teacher, and one special education aide. Further reduction includes five positions due to attrition/retirements.
  • Eliminate the position of middle and high school disciplinary assistant.
  • Eliminate all middle school [grades six to eight] athletics and other extracurricular activities — club or volunteer activities only.
  • Eliminate the following sports: cheerleading, hockey, gymnastics and golf.
  • There will be varsity and junior varsity sports only, no freshman or “C” teams.
  • Two coaches only per sport, varsity and junior varsity — any others must be volunteers.
  • Only authorized WIAA programs will be funded.
  • Eliminate the summer marching band program.
  • Reduce the FBLA program by disallowing national competition, unless other funding can be found.
  • Eliminate the forensics program.
  • Cut participation in any music competitions beyond the solo and ensemble competitions.
  • Reduce district’s technology budget by $30,000.
  • Reduce building administrators’ budgets by $55,000.
  • Reduce overall maintenance budget by $25,000 – $30,000.
  • Close the swimming pool.
  • It is further recommended that all athletic coaches and extra-curricular advisors be laid off at the end of the 2006-2007 season, including the position of grades seven-12 athletic director. These positions will all be re-evaluated, posted and rehired as necessary, as per collective bargaining agreement, with first consideration being given to employees of the school district.
  • It is also recommended that a system of fees and charges be established for school activities and events to raise additional revenue. A committee has been established to determine fair fees and charges. Such fees and charges would be for all athletic and music events, for use of the building by any profit-making activity [such as drivers’ education, karate, etc.], for special course textbooks and materials, for any non-class-related school computer usage, and for anything else the committee deems appropriate.

    • They are currently working on a consolidation with Butternut (another struggling district). Apparently the consolidation will produce some temporary savings but in the long run the combination of a basic state funding system that is designed to fail, declining enrollments and “sparsity” will take them right back where they are now (unless of course our lawmakers enact real reform).

    Sparsity is used to describe the special issues faced by large geographic districts with small enrollments, for example the need to staff a French or chemistry class for only a handful of students. These sorts of diseconomies of scale along with the need to maintain schools within a couple hour drive of student’s homes create real challenges and our funding system denies districts the resources they need to meet these challenges.

    Meanwhile, (according to the Park Falls Herald) “Impacts of cuts in school district felt”

    This is the part that got to me:

    Elementary School Principal Michael Plemon addressed the board during his administrative report about the “desperate need for a guidance counselor” at the elementary school.

    “I believe strongly that we need this at the elementary level,” Plemon said. “We have got a kindergarten class and a first-grade class, I’m not exaggerating when I say this, where I could already be in a situation of suspending kids from school. We’ve got a few kids in that situation that need guidance. These are children that need help and discussion, and a place for them to go and get some guidance.”

    Plemon said he is able to handle the situations and discipline on a day-to-day basis, but that those students aren’t getting the help they need to change the behaviors, and that the concerns include the other students.

    “Children today come with a lot more social issues than they once did,” Plemon said, noting the need for assistance with issues including grief, loss, self-control and other social skills, especially anger management. “You’re looking at five to maybe 10 kids in the elementary, but they have this anger management issue every day. Other kids are getting hurt because of this.”

    “It is an area I believe is vital for our elementary school,” he said.

    Waller said a good rule of thumb is one guidance counselor for each principal. The district currently has one guidance counselor, working in the high school and middle school. Waller said the item would be on the agenda for the October meeting, but many board members felt the need was important and asked if it could be placed on the agenda for the meeting scheduled for tonight, Thursday, Sept. 27.

    In response to a question from board member Jean Gottwald, Schuchardt said the position was not in the 2007-08 budget but could be added.

    How long can this insanity go on? Make some noise! Call, write, visit any and all legislators and don’t let Governor Doyle off the hook. Come November, let’s work statewide to elect people who will fix this.

    Thomas J. Mertz

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    by | September 13, 2007 · 4:43 pm

    Quotes of the Day (We are Not Alone #17)

    Chetek School District begins considering an operating referendum.

    “What we heard loud and clear from the community was that we want everything and more for our kids…Obviously, with our budget dwindling, we’re going to have to do something to meet the expectations of the community.”

    Genie Jennings, President Chetek School District, Board of Education

    “I think we have to do it. It’s not a debatable issue. The question is, ‘Is it going to be a community-wide effort with help from the board?’…I think the community will pay for what they perceive as quality, performance and value,…Doing more with less may actually happen, but to provide good services frugally, and to be competitive, we’re going to have to create more opportunities for students. That is the real focus.”

    Ken Jost, Member Chetek School District, Board of Education

    Thomas J. Mertz

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    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

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    by | September 1, 2007 · 2:25 pm

    We are Not Alone #15

    One of the things about school budgeting in Madison (and Wisconsin) that is not well understood is that the “budget” passed by the Board of Education in the Spring or Summer is at best a compilation of educated guesses. The headline from this story on the Onalaska district says it all:

    Onalaska school budget set … sort of

    The maneuvers with the MMSD budget this Spring confused many, partially because it wasn’t obvious how much guess work was involved (the fact that in order to “balance the budget” administrators and Board members bandy about numbers like $2746.34 as if they were real exacerbates this confusion). Here is a partial list of items that were projections or guesses this Spring in Madison:

  • How many students in the district
  • Where these students would be
  • The terms of the teacher contract
  • The terms of the educational assistant contract (unsettled for over a year and still pending)
  • The level of allowed revenues per student under the revenue caps
  • The definition of state categorical aids
  • The amount of state categorical aids
  • Private and governmental grants
  • The costs of utilities

    • Under these circumstances it is understandable that the district can and must “find money” for many unanticipated expenditures as the year goes forward and the Board and/or administration revisits decisions and projections. These kind of “changes” only appear problematic because few grasp how contingent and tentative the “budget” is.

    MMSD has historically produced budget projections within 1% of the actual total expenditures (they are rightly proud of this), but individual budget lines vary greatly from the projections (I did some random checking some months ago and found multiple variances of 15% or more). Even the 1% in a budget of nearly $340 million is $3.4 million.

    Usually by this time of year (even in year when the state biennial budget is passed) some of the pieces begin to fall into place. This year the political dickering over the state budget has left much unsettled as the school year begins. Back to Onalaska:

    One problem with the budget is no one knows where the money will come from or how much local property taxpayers will have to cough up for the year. That is because the Wisconsin Legislature has not come up with its own budget and set the amount it will give to local school districts. The state pays approximately two-thirds of the school budget.

    “There are numbers on the page but we won’t know the big numbers until October,” said Larry Dalton, the district’s finance director. He predicted a local tax levy of about $11.2 million, which would mean a higher levy than last year but a much lower tax rate for taxpayers. Dalton said the rapidly rising equalized valuation in the school district — now more than $1.6 billion — means the tax rate will be 2.2 percent lower than last year.

    If the state comes through with about the same proportion of costs as it did last year, Onalaska taxpayers would have another historic low in the local tax rates for schools at about $7.26 per thousand in property value.

    This last line points to another area of confusion, one I intend to explore at greater length in another post. For now I just want to emphasize that often in Madison and elsewhere, school districts both reduce their mill rate (level of taxation) and increase their spending (due primarily to a growing tax base).

    Thomas J. Mertz

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    by | August 15, 2007 · 6:13 pm

    Who is to Blame?

    (Hint, it isn’t the Oshkosh Area Board of Education.)

    State Rep. Carol Owens (R. Oshkosh) issued a press release opposing school closings in the OASD. Owens voices such admirable thoughts as: “Our small community schools are
    the backbone of the community,” and ““Our smaller, local schools need to be supported and not divided.” Bravo Representative Owens.

    Of course sentiments divorced from actions are easy. Rep. Owens is in a position to work for meaningful state finance reform or at very least support the band aids and revenue limit increases in the JFC (or Senate or Governor’s) budget that would help some of the districts like Oshkosh and Madison avoid the draconian choices they face and truly allow Boards of Education keep under enrolled but vital schools open. Instead Owens votes the party line and our schools suffer.

    Before posting this I tried to get a handle on the situation in Oshkosh and although it is a relatively low spending district, there are many things that parallel Madison. Strings programs are perennially targeted for cuts. Enrollment is relatively stable, but growing on one side of town and shrinking on the other. As Owens noted, attempts to deal with this (and the budget contraints of the state finance system, I’d add) have divided the community.

    It is hard to say how intentional it is for some who resist adequate funding of education but the divisions created and the loss of popular programs because of fiscal pressures under the current system do result a loss of faith in and support for public education and that is certainly the long term goal of many anti-government, free market zealots.

    Thomas J. Mertz

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    by | July 23, 2007 · 1:36 am

    We are not alone #14

    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.

    Take action.

    Thomas J. Mertz

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    by | July 5, 2007 · 7:56 pm

    We are not alone #13

    It has been a while since I’ve posted one of these round ups of Wisconsin school budget news. This one is going to be in the quick facts and short excerpts style.

    Menomonie
    School board nixes four-year-old kindergarten

    The recent referendum in Menomomie lost, the start up and operating costs for 4K are only partially covered by state aid and allowable local revenues, so even though a majority of the Board believe it would be “beneficial for kids,” there will be no 4 year old kindergarten in Menomonie.

    “I voted against this two years ago, but since then I’ve read some positive information about four-year-old kindergarten,” said Bud Karis, board member.

    The referendum that was recently defeated, however, was not for new programs, but to maintain existing programs, he said.

    “If we can’t maintain existing programs, then we should not start new programs. Where are we going to get the start-up funds when we’re already broke?” Karis said.

    Four-year-old kindergarten is educationally sound and is fiscally sound over time, said Jesse Harness, district administrator.

    Ashwaubenon
    Ashwaubenon lays off 8 teachers

    The headline kind of says it all. One interesting note is that like MMSD and other districts around the state, Ashwaubenon is considering following the state law that allows districts to move community education programs to a fund that is not under the revenue caps.

    The district also would like to start a community service fund, Lucius said earlier this spring. With that fund, programs that benefit the community — such as Ashwaubenon High School’s indoor pool and other programs — fit under a different tax levy not tied to the state-mandated revenue caps for school districts. That would free up about $300,000 in the school budget, Lucius said, but does require approval at the school district’s annual meeting in July.

    Neenah
    Neenah cuts in-city busing for students

    Like in Madison, busing for both public and private school students was cut.

    School board member Scott Butler said in-city busing is not required by law and falls below other priorities of the district. A majority of the board agreed with him Tuesday.

    Tight budgets mean a close look at priorities.

    Kaukauna
    Budget woes plague Kaukauna schools

    Board trims $500,000 in projected SAGE costs

    Read both linked stories to get the sad story of how the district tried and failed to keep all the SAGE class size reductions that the state would co-fund. The Governor’s budget this year contains the first increase in SAGE reimbursement ever, but even if that goes through the state funding will fall short of meeting the true expenses in all or most schools. Like so many other state and federal programs, SAGE is underfunded and the difference has to be made up out of the general budget.

    “I appreciate what they (administrators) did to get to where we are,” said Todd Arnoldussen, the board’s vice president and a staunch supporter of retaining the SAGE program. “But I can’t see all that work going out the window. … This is the right way.”

    Hustisford
    Preliminary school budget approved by Hustisford board

    The schools in Hustiford will again run a deficit and dip into their fund balance this year (to the tune of $654,437). the familiar story of allowed revenues not rising as fast as expenses. Although familiar, the reporter (Pat Hahn) did an exceptional job explaining state and local school finances and I urge you to read it. Here is one good quote:

    “It looks dismal, and it is,” Van Ravenstein told the board. “Each year since I’ve been here, I’ve trimmed the budget as much as I could. This year there isn’t anything left to trim.”

    Thomas J. Mertz

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