CAST on the MMSD Budget -- July,
2009
The school
referendum approved overwhelmingly byMadison
Metropolitan School
District voters in November
2008 was based on a “Partnership Plan” that promised to maintain
educational quality, initiate
a community-wide strategic planning process, and mitigate the
impact on property tax-payers in a variety of ways.
While the school district remains committed to the
principles of this Partnership Plan, with the uncertain economy many things have
changed since November.
Most significantly, the recently enacted
state budget has left MMSD facing what now looks like a $9 million
reduction in state aid as well as requiring an almost $3 million
reduction in expenditures for the 2009-10 school year.
As the MMSD Board of Education seeks ways to address the
shortfalls created by the state budget, Community and Schools Together (CAST)
believes it is important that the community recognize that this problem
was created by state officials, not local decisions. The reductions in revenues and
in funding for targeted programs (via categorical aids) will impact
every district in the state.
Madison is one of about 100 districts
that have had their general state aid cut by 15%, but almost all
districts are experiencing significant reductions in state support and
will be contemplating higher than anticipated property tax
increases.
These cuts come after 16 years of inadequate
funding, annual cuts in most
districts as well as reductions of the state’s portion of education
costs in recent years. This
recent state budget moves us further away from the
sustainable, equitable and
adequate educational investments that are needed to keep Madison and Wisconsin strong and
competitive.
It is also important that the community understand that
the tax and revenue projections in the Partnership Plan and those used
in the preliminary district budget passed in May were good projections
made in good faith based on the best available information. That
preliminary budget strengthened education and held property tax mil rate
increase to 1˘ (far below the 11˘ increase anticipated prior to the
referendum).
In the coming months the Board of Education must find ways
to meet the shortfalls created by the state budget. There are
no good choices.
These choices involve some combination re-budgeting and
re-allocating, potential new
cuts, use of the district’s
recently growing fund balance, temporarily employing targeted stimulus
monies, or increasing the
local tax levy. CAST urges
the Board to retain their commitment to quality education and community
involvement. We also ask
the community to take advantage of opportunities to let all our state
and local elected officials know that Madison values
education.
###
Community and Schools Together (CAST) is a grass roots
organization dedicated to securing sustainable, adequate and equitable public education
investments in Madison and Wisconsin.
Click here
for a PDF version of this
statement.
Building on Victory - Next for
CAST
Join with CAST to raise school finance
reform to top of the agenda!
The referendum passed - thanks to all for your support and hard work!
Now it's time to turn our energy to school finance reform!
Without changes in the way Wisconsin finances schools, Madison and
other districts will face a future of continued budget cuts and divisive
referendum battles. Our local state legislators supported the referendum
and support fair funding for schools. We need them to put school finance
reform on the top of their agenda for the next state budget.
Please join CAST on Wednesday, Dec. 3rd 6:30pm at Hawthorne Library
and help plan an event at the State Capitol in early January to meet our
legislators and ask for their leadership.
Let's plan a creative and constructive action that involves
everybody-- kids, parents, educators, grandparents. Bring your ideas!
Hawthorne Library is located at 2707 E. Washington Ave., 246-4548,
See for this link
for directions.
If you have questions or cannot join us on Dec. 3rd, but have an idea
or want to be part of the event in January, please contact Jill Jacklitz
at madisoncast@sbcglobal.net
Community and Schools Together
The lead editorial in the
October 23, 2008 issue of the Capital Times makes a strong case
for voting yes on the school referendum, supporting our schools as an
obligation to our children and their futures, and fixing the broken
state school finance system. Here is an excerpt:
The bottom line is always
the same: doing right by the coming generation.
But the reality is not as
simple as that.
This is not a moment at
which to be satisfied with schools that do well by American
standards.
That coming generation of
which we speak will have to compete in a global economy where it will
not matter whether schools in Wisconsin are superior to those in
Indiana. What will matter is that young people educated in Madison are
prepared to hold there own against young people educated in London,
Frankfurt, Delhi and Shanghai.
And the only way that
will happen is if the Madison Metropolitan School District has the
resources required not merely to maintain but to expand upon its current
strengths.
Thanks to great teachers,
engaged parents, serious students and generous local taxpayers, MMSD
ranks ahead of most urban school districts in the nation. Even in times
of painfully cutting, quality has, for the most part, been
maintained.
But there is no resting
on laurels in this contest.
Heading toward the
2009-2010 school year, MMSD faces the threat of an $8.1 million deficit.
Additional deficits of $4.4 million in 2010-2011 and $4.3 million in
2011-12 are projected.
The deficit is not the
fault of the school district's administrators. The state of Wisconsin
continues to impose dysfunctional structural controls on how districts
manage their finances, while at the same time failing to meet promises
to provide adequate funding for education of students with special needs
and other required programs...
The only vote that makes sense is
"yes."
It is essential for everyone who is heading to the
polls on Nov. 4 to decide the presidential race between two men who say
education is a priority -- as well as every voter who casts an early
ballot -- and to make the extra effort to find the referendum question
and mark that "yes" box.
