Context: In order to have a balanced budget we anticipate facing a shortfall of about $1 million in the next fiscal year, or roughly 3% of our current operating budget. This reduction falls on top of significant cuts over the last couple of years - a fact that means we have already cut all or most of the "low hanging fruit", and I don't believe we can make a 3% cut without noticeably reducing services. It is an unfortunate circumstance, however I think it can be done while continuing to make strides toward improved academic achievement.
I have my own ideas for dealing with the issue, but I would like to hear thoughts and ideas from the community: Comment away!
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29 comments:
I believe the worst thing you can do is nibble around the edges. A few percent from this, a few percent from that. This harms things that are successful and perpetuates things that don't work. At some point, the district needs to decide what it will do well and what it will choose not to do at all.
As for specifics, the sacred cow of class size needs to be put on the table. There is research on this issue. Please use it and apply the findings to the demographics of our student body. Class size decisions should not be based on warm fuzzies and anecdotes, but on valid educational research. Opening this can of worms will surely raise the hackles of some, but being a board member or superintendent during budget reductions is not for the faint of heart.
"the sacred cow of class size needs to be put on the table. There is research on this issue. Please use it and apply the findings to the demographics of our student body.
Why this sacared cow why not others? It seems you have axe to grind.
Further, I think running a district on purely educational research is a mistake. We are dealing with people not numbers.
"We are dealing with people not numbers."
The school district is NOT a jobs program.
"The school district is NOT a jobs program."
The school district is not a factory or a business.
I for one do not enjoy my student trying to learn in classes sizes of 25 or 30.
Other scared cows:
Athletics
Strings
"Further, I think running a district on purely educational research is a mistake. We are dealing with people not numbers."
Some educational research uses statistical analyses, but it is based on real information about real students. Further, qualitative research - which is considered empirical, valid research - is not based on "numbers". There are even meta-analyses which take a large group of previous studies and analyzes them - these are very helpful in synthesizing a body of research.
If you want to find out about research on class size, go to scholar.google.com and do some searches. You will likely be able to read just the abstracts, but the abstract wil usually detail the major findings. If there are some articles you want the full text for, you can probably take the citation information to the public library and perhaps they can get it for you.
What role should research play in making educational decisions?
What role should research make in cancer treatment decisions? Most of us know the answer to that. Why would the answer be any different for education?
What role should research make in cancer treatment decisions? Most of us know the answer to that. Why would the answer be any different for education?
Because education deals with children, not cells. Lots of variables with people. They react differently to "treatment" where cells can be counted on to react fairly consistently.
So you think kids in the Monona Grove school district react differently from kids in other districts in which the research is done?
What evidence of that do you have?
As unpopular as this will be, please close Maywood. It will mean you and/or other board members will get voted off, but it will save 200K-300K or 3-4 teachers.
I'd rather have kids in a bigger building, then to have kids in even bigger classes, especially at the elementary level.
Please do not do the temp classrooms for CGE. The growth of Cottage Grove has slowed, and the overcrowded bubble will pass in 2-3 years. If Monona is going to "loose" Maywood, CGE can "loose" some comfort.
Monona isn't going to lose Maywood, get real.
what teachers would be saved with Maywood closing? There are a lot of teachers that are shared(art, music, OT, librarian)...the other teachers have full schedule. They are not going to somehow loose any classroom teachers. I am seriously confused where we are going to "lose people". If there are going to be more people at Winnequah we would then need to increase custodial staff there and lunchroom staff. Also, FYI Maywood is at capacity. I have walked through Winnequah and am confused if there are really 14 (or more) additional empty classrooms to house the kids that would have to be moved there.
I would rather see Nichols closed (and sold)and utilize the extra space at Winnequah to house the offices and programs that Nichols uses. You can't tell me that it wouldn't save money. I think this would be a much more "popular" option for those in Monona.
The district estimated that consolidating Maywood into Winnequah would save ~$275,000.
"The district estimated that consolidating Maywood into Winnequah would save ~$275,000."
That was using research that said Maywood enrollment was going down-going up.
It is really critical that we evolve our attitudes and opinions in the face of new and changing information. Things did not look good for Maywood a few years ago, but we need to look at what is happening now, not a few years ago. For those who assert that Maywood should be closed, the past information on that issue assumed that the enrollment would decline and/or stabilize. What has happened is that it has increased and that changes the picture. Perhaps the Monona efforts to attract young families is bearing fruit (or babies!). I am told there are five sections of kindergarten now - four due to Monona residents and a fifth needed for open enrollment. That puts us back to where Maywood was over a decade ago, section-wise. We have smaller k-2 classes than we did many years ago, but we need to look at building usage by homerooms in addition to total numbers of students.
To the east, we likewise need to keep an eye on CG elementary enrollment as past assumptions about that enrollment may not hold true. Past projections did not take into account the acute recession which many say may continue for the next couple of years. Lots of housing starts & sales are needed to keep CG enrollment stable so that families with young kids can move in as other families with older kids "age out" of the elementary scene, but stay in their home. Without significant housing growth, CG could begin to enter the same phase Monona has been through where families grow up, but stay in their homes and thus the pipeline of little kids begins to dwindle. What CG is currently experiencing with some moderate elementary crowding could turn out to be an enrollment bubble moving through the system. This is distressing for the families with kids in that bubble, but it is a very normal occurrence in a lot school districts. There are ways to handle it without uprooting everyone.
re..I am seriously confused where we are going to "lose people"....increase custodial staff there and lunchroom staff....Maywood is at capacity. I have walked through Winnequah and am confused if there are really 14 (or more) additional empty classrooms to house the kids that would have to be moved there.
I'd imagine the first cuts for the K-2s would involve increasing class size significantly in Kindergarden and having 1 fewer class in each school.
Presumably, moving Maywood into Winnequah would also move the custodial and lunch staff, but I thought these were shared between the two all ready. I don't think an empty building would need much custodial work, and if they are shared, you would save a little extra money on staff transportation/work vehicles.
Maywood may be close to capacity (around 250), but Winnequah is significanly under (about 300 free). Maywood enrollment may be going up, but it will take awhile to increase 50 kids. Also a lot of kids this year were from open enrollment, which is not the best thing to count on.
There are probably 6 rooms in Winnequah that are not used, and probably 10 rooms that are now offices, store rooms, or empty for half the time (for example, the 6th grade foreign language classrooms). It wouldn't be comfortable, but it could be done, and I think most people would rather share a classroom, then loose a job.
Selling Nichols isn't a bad idea either, however I'm not sure what could go there, and therefore who would buy it. The district office is an issue being historical, and I don't know if the property can be torn down and rebuilt. It's worth looking into.
There was some rumor in the Herald about cutting lunch staff and using some private service, but I agree that it's risky. You might be able to raise food service prices a little but this might mess up federal funding.
You might also be able to raise HS sport ticket prices a little, and see if there is some way the district can sell old computers. The UW does this in Verona and gets about $75 each. The UW's are only 2-3 years old when they sell them, so the district would probably get less.
The district got some loan for energy effeciency, and if some of the projects haven't started, it would be good to get them moving. The money was borrowed, so it should be used.
You can ask the Union to help. Most people have their doubts, but maybe it could encourage early retirement, or agree to a furlough. It couldn't hurt to ask.
You can furlough non-union staff in the summer for a few days. Does the board get a small payment for their service they can return?
You could try a referendum too. If the number of young families in Monona is increasing, they're likely to support it, and Dane Co. doesn't have the unemployeement of the rest of the state/country, so people aren't as resistant to tax increases. But the normal resistance is usually above 50% so don't hold your breath.
Of all the above, the easiest to do and save significant money is close Maywood. It's just a building, the teachers are what's important.
I can see from a CG perspective how 'easy' a fix it would be just to close up a school. I wonder if it would be short sighted to have another school overcrowded (because as one of the above posters said...what is so horrible about sharing a classroom?) and have to reopen Maywood 2-3 years down the road if enrollment continues to climb as we have seen it do this year.
If I recall, there was an 'easy' fix to all of this by shipping 4th and 5th graders to Winnequah but there was resistance from people in Cottage Grove so the option was dropped. Don't you think that people of Monona have their reasons for resisting things, too?
Bussing 4-5th graders to Winnequah is expensive, plus it takes them out of neighborhood schools, that's why it came off the table. Moving Maywood into Winnequah is the opposite, it saves money, plus the kids remain in a neighhborhood school (Maywood and Winnequah are virtually across the street from one another. I'm curious, what is the resistance in Monona?
I don't understand why we would want to make another overcrowded school.
I also question how much power the mayor has over the school board and the school board over the mayor.
The mayor has a pretty big bully pulpit, which he has been unafraid to use in the past when it comes to school issues.
Mike Veserat campaigned on school closures?? Really??? In my world it was sidewalks and Monona Drive construction.
I guess we all hear what we want to hear.
"Mike Veserat campaigned on school closures?? Really???"
Yes, really.
I meant to ask what were the reasons behind the resistance from Monona, not the persons.
"Mike Veserat campaigned explicitly on opposing school closures"
that is a crap statment.
May I suggest we break the mold and save the million by a combination of cutting adminstartors AND if we really need them...share them with another district.
Peter if u want me to name positions I will-
Everyone knows that teachers perform best when there is no management or support.
1) I removed a few comments above because they violated my rule about speaking for someone else without evidence, or because they don't move the discussion along (The comments about Mike V. I allowed to stand because I heard him make them myself. - Mike -Please let me know if I am mistaken)
2) The district estimated, and the ad hoc committee accepted, a savings of about $275,000+ for consolidating Maywood and Winnequah. These savings had little relation to the number of students (up to the capacity of Winnequah), but were related to duplicated administrative, service and building costs.
3) Everything is on the table, I would like to hear what administrative positions are felt to be unnecessary, but please justify your thoughts! (Same with everything else!)
Keep going...
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