The preliminary list

The Herald-Independent has published the preliminary list of budget cuts here.  Saving me the trouble of reproducing the list myself.   Cutting and pasting:

The following 19 items, listed in order of impact to the district (lowest impact first), represent $1,008,510 in budget savings (estimated item savings in parentheses):

• Reduce Physical Therapy staff by .2 FTE ($7,000).
• Increase instructional minutes that define FTE workload for elementary related arts from 1280 to 1350, thus reducing overtime payments ($17,500).
• Extend walk area to the two mile maximum, reducing bussing costs ($35,000).
• Reduce Occupational Therapy staff by .4 FTE ($14,000).
• Change class size suggested ranges for middle school and high school to reduce overload pay ($80,000).
• Reduce maintenance and custodial overtime ($20,000).
• Increase high school class size to 26, reducing staff by 2.1 FTE ($73,000).
• Eliminate 4th grade strings program ($22,500).
• Reduce staffing for grade 6–8 music programs ($84,150).
• Reduce instructional minutes per week for elementary related arts, grades K-5 ($91,000).
• Reduce district athletic budget for middle and high school by 5 percent ($22,910).
• Change Diversity Coordinator to non-administrative position ($10,000).
• Outsource custodial staff, for 6 of 12 positions ($174,000).
• Reduce paraprofessional positions (special ed) by 2.46 FTE ($81,000).
• Reduce teacher mentor by .5 FTE ($37,500).
• Eliminate all four IMC paraprofessionals in district ($132,000).
• Reduce Elementary Assistant Principal hours by 40 percent ($22,000).
• Eliminate late bus ($10,000).

Budget Public hearings

3 Public hearings on the budget reduction proposals have been scheduled:

Tuesday, Feb. 9  6-8 pm, Glacial Drumlin IMC

Thursday, Feb. 11  6-8 pm, High School Auditorium

Saturday, Feb. 20, 10-12 am, Winnequah Cafeteria

See you there!

The third rail...

Peter McKeever kicked things off last night with a thoughtful call to the board not to cut the budget.  Peter is right that the future rests on the investment we make in educating the next generation, and that cut backs can be short sighted.  This is particularly true in the situation where we are not talking about a one time reduction due to the economy, but an ongoing structural deficit that will year after year erode public education.  Peter called for additional public investment and taxes to restore school budgets and asked the school board to take a leadership role in strengthening public education.    I would add that according to http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/index.php, WI state and local spending on primary and secondary education has declined by 7% (as a percentage of GDP) since the year 2000.

The board moved to hearing the results of the annual financial audit, and received (as usual) a clean unqualified report from the auditors.  We also heard from a reports concerning the new teacher project and the January head count (up 12 students since September).  The board also decided to issue preliminary notice of non-renewal to several administrators.  These are due to budgetary considerations and unrelated to any job performance issues, it also does not necessarily mean we will be terminating these staff members.  In a related action the board approved one year (down from the standard two year contracts) for several other administrators, in order to keep these options available for next year.  Again, none of these actions are performance related.

The board then had a brief discussion concerning the Nichols property.  Although no consensus was apparent, IMHO the location is a valuable piece of real estate and the best interest of the district is that it should be on the tax rolls and working for the economic development of the community.

The board then approved a recommendation from the administration concerning the 4k-8 study report.  I don't have the language, but essentially the motion stated that in consideration of the costs the district not pursue separate 4k-8 programs in each community.  We talked about some of the other grade configuration committee's recommendations, there was particular focus on the issue of studying combining 6th grades in GDS. The consensus from the staff seems to be there may be significant cost and educational benefits to this move.  Personally, I would be reluctant to approve this without a significant show of community support as the current configuration was approved in the 2006 referendum.

The board then reviewed the board and administrator surveys of the budget cut items.  The surveys were designed to solicit judgments about the impact of each proposed budget cut relative to the board goals.   A copy of the board version of the survey can be found by clicking here.

The compiled survey results can be found clicking here.  There are three pages: administrator averages, board averages and a comparison of rankings.

In general I found no surprises in the results, with general agreement between the board and administration on nearly all items. 

I don't have access to my original answers on the survey (when I clicked the "next" key it disappeared into cyberspace) I will reproduce my answers to the best of my ability and post them here tomorrow.   Its the best I can do.

Craig then presented an initial proposal from the budget reduction list totalling $1.008M dollars.   I will publish that list separately also.  There was some discussion about a few items on the list, such as the teacher mentor program, and some items that aren't, such as the proposal for Maywood-Winnequah consolidation.

The board and the district are faced with some stark choices, and the current proposal falls heavily on our music, related arts and encore curriculum.  The Maywood-Winnequah consolidation may give us the opportunity to significantly mitigate the impact of these cuts to staff and curriculum; I believe that we owe it to the community, students and the dedicated teachers responsible for these programs to take a hard look at this option.

Squeezing in...

The Herald-Independent complained about the lack of space in the Nichols Board room during our last meeting, at this time I don't know if there is a plan to fix the problem for Wednesday's meeting.

Items of note:

IX. New Business
B. Report on Second Friday in January Enrollment Count (10 Min)

Enrollment edged up again between September and January.

E. Discussion and Possible Approval of Preliminary Notice of Non-Renewal of Administrator
Contracts – Craig Gerlach (5 Min.)

Admin contracts automatically roll over at the end of January unless we issue Notice of Non-Renewal.  In order to keep our budget options open we will need to issue notices.

F. Discussion of Use of Nichols School Property (15 Min)

What direction should we take with the Nichols property?  IMHO this is a valuable piece of real estate that should be on the tax rolls and working for the economy of our district.  (P.S. any sale of district property requires approval of the electorate, the board doesn't have authority.)

X. Unfinished Business


A. Discussion and Possible Approval of Recommendation of Report on 4K-8 Grade
Configuration (10 Min)

The 4k-8 report generated very little discussion at our last meeting, the costs pretty much spoke for themselves. 

B. Discussion of Additional Recommendations on the Ad Hoc Committee to Study Grade
Configuration for Grades 4K-8 (45 Min)

C. Discussion of Budget Reduction Proposals & Hearing Schedule

More budget cutting discussions.  We should have the results from the administration survey collated for our review.

WASB convention.

Wednesday and Thursday I was at the annual WASB convention in Milwaukee with Susan Fox, Jessica Ace, and Jason McCutchin.

The most interesting session I attended concerned Kewaskum schools program they call "People over programs". I have long noted that compared to the private sector, school district management structures are very weak - the Kewaskum program deals with this problem by focusing on high professional standards for their staff. I was encouraged to see an alternative model that acknowledges this issue and attempts to address the problem directly.

Along similar lines I hear a presentation from the Janesville schools - they are working with a management consulting firm (that is donating their services) to develop standards of professionalism and accountability in management. The Superintendents evaluation is published on the district website with progress toward specific measurable goals.

I also attended a session with ideas about using incentives with HRA's to reduce health insurance costs, and a session about district consolidation - I think that looking at collaborative or consolidated support services with neighboring district might be a way to save money.

I found the school tour of Milwaukee's Hawley Environmental Elementary interesting. Hawley has a curriculum integrated about environmental science and has won several awards for academics. Everyone on the tour received a copy of the 15 page "School improvement plan" with detailed data, goals and progress markers. I also learned that Milwaukee has invested in a "Math Teacher Leader" in each school; this is a teacher without primary teaching responsibility but instead with responsibility for the quality of math instruction in the entire school. Hawley is also applying for elementary IB status, which would make it the first in the state. MPS has significant problems, but my observation is that they are trying hard to find innovative solutions with limited resources (340 students were jammed into a tiny school; every available inch of space was utilized).

Credit goes to Scott Walker for attending the Gubernatorial forum, Todd Barrett didn't attend and although Mark Nuemann wasn't present this was apparently due to WASB's scheduling error. In my opinion Walker mostly dodged the tough questions, but on economic issues he did settle one answer that he stuck to pretty consistently: it is his belief that the state needs to empower school boards so that funding doesn't keep going to increased teacher compensation.

My expenses at the WASB convention are covered by the district-(Thank you!). I try to make the most of it.

THI 2.0

The Herald Independent has upgraded their website, making it easier to read and navigate.  You will find THI stories and news updated all week long, so you don't have to wait until Thursday to find out what's going on.  I hope you are reading it, and don't forget to click on the ads and support the advertisers who make your local paper possible!



P.S. A "Family Feud" graphic? Was that really necessary?

The Gov. comes to GDS.

Governor Doyle visited Glacial Drumlin yesterday morning for a press event to announce the filing of the state's "Race to the Top" application. 

The governor started his remarks with kind praise to the district for providing the high quality facilities of Glacial Drumlin School, the educational leadership that Monona Grove has shown in the past and our enthusiasm for the state's Race to the Top plans.  The Governor noted that 97% of the state district has signed onto to the memorandum of understanding, and that the state's history of quality education would place our application in good stead. 

The governor did note that significant efforts for reform of the Milwaukee system would be required to make the application successful, and he endorsed a "change in governance" i.e. the proposed mayoral take over the MPS school system.

Although the questions from the press focussed on Milwaukee, School board candidate and CG PTO President Jennifer Pickel got to ask the governor what PTO's and parents could do to improve the chances of the application's success.  The governor indicated the importance of public understanding and support for the application.

I did get a chance to have a few words with the Gov. and State Super. Tony Evers, and a change to express my concerns about the current school funding system which, because it doesn't even keep up with inflation, will ultimately undo any work toward educational progress we might propose.  I'm sure they have heard it before!

Above the fold.

Today's WSJ fronts a picture of the MG Show Choir and a story about the "Silver Stage" show choir competition hosted at the High School tomorrow!

The darker side of the board meeting:

The board spent a lot of time going through the list of possible cuts.  Most of the administrators and many many teachers were present to hear the discussion, although I am afraid that the there was more heat than light shed.  For the next step a survey of the administration and board will be made that will rate the impact of the various items vs. current goals.  Hopefully this will provide us with the input we need to move on to the next step of the process.

I want to thank the large number of staff who spoke and were present at the meeting, especially those who sat through to the bitter end (which was after midnight). Your presence serves to remind me that we are not talking about "FTE's", but people with names and faces who are dedicated to educating the kids of this district.  Each $55,000 (on average) we spend on anything else represents one of those dedicated people that we can't have.  That's why I get angry when we dither on about "the process" when we should be taking the difficult issues head-on.

On the bright side of the board meeting:

The team from McKinstry has reported that their data (sept.-nov.) shows that the district has already saved $30,000 in lower utility costs, even though only about 75% of the projects are complete.  This puts us well on track to exceed the projected $117,000 in annual savings from the energy performance contracting agreement.

Myopia and the great outdoors:

"If you have two nearsighted parents and you engage in a low level of outdoor activity, your chances of becoming myopic by the eighth grade are about 60 percent," he says. "If children engaged in over 14 hours per week of outdoor activity, their chances of becoming nearsighted were now only about 20 percent. So it was quite a dramatic reduction in the risk of becoming myopic."

I'm sending my kids outdoors!

Wednesday's meeting

Next Wednesday's board meeting agenda can be found here.
Items of note:

X. New Business


B. Discussion and Possible Approval of Writing Basics II New High School Course Proposal – Diane Jensen (10 min)

Diane will present a proposal for a new high school elective designed to improve the writing skills of students identified in the bottom quartile in the EPAS writing assessments.

F. Discussion and Possible Approval of Preliminary Notice of Non-Renewal of Administrator
Contracts – Craig Gerlach (5 Min.)

Administrator contracts renew each year at the end of January, several administrators were on the list of potential cuts, so in order to keep our options until final budget cutting decisions we will need to provide non-renewal notices before the deadline. The board has made no decisions to renew or non-renew anyone at this time.
B. Discussion and Possible Approval of Resolution Regarding Report on 4K-8 Grade
Configuration in Each Community Study (30 Min)

The board will discuss and perhaps make a recommendation concerning the 4k-8 grade configuration option based on the report we received in December.

C. Discussion of Budget Reduction Proposals and Process (60 Min)
The board will review additional information requested after the first round of discussions.

And they're off...

Press release:

Peter Sobol announces his candidacy for re-election to the Monona Grove School Board in the upcoming spring 2010 election. Peter is seeking his second term on the board where he has served as Vice-President, Treasurer and chair of the Business Services committee, as well as a member of the Energy & Sustainability committee. Peter and his wife Kristin are Monona residents with 2 children in Monona Grove schools. Peter is a member of the academic staff of the UW Department of Geosciences and is a partner in Synchrotron Research Inc, a company that develops unique scientific instrumentation. Peter believes that successful Monona Grove schools are the ultimate asset of our communities and high-quality public education is key to its future.

Peter believes that his experience overseeing the annual budget process has helped develop a grasp of the intricacies of district finance that will be invaluable in the difficult decisions the district will face in the coming years. Peter understands the difficult choices the district faces due to the structural budget deficit: “But my experience has shown me that successful organizations use tough times to focus and orient around that which is important, and I believe our schools can emerge from the current budget crisis as a stronger asset to our community. This process will require innovation and forward looking leadership capable of identifying, promoting and implementing the best practices in education and school operations.”

Peter highlights several areas of accomplishment including his leadership role in developing the energy efficiency contracts that will save more than $117,000 per year in energy costs. “Three years ago I identified that MG spends much more per student on energy than the average Wisconsin school district. Although I can’t overestimate the contributions of many on the board and district staff, my sustained leadership in this area played a key role in achieving these savings while at the same time providing critical infrastructure improvements and setting an example to students and the public about our commitment to a sustainable future. Through this effort I believe that I have helped place the district on a firmer financial footing that will help us weather difficult financial times in the future.”

Peter also maintains a blog (at http://petersobol.blogspot.com) designed to help keep the public informed on school board business as well his thoughts on issues before the board. The blog also serves as a convenient forum for feedback and questions from the public. “Campaign promises about improving communication with the community are as common as yard signs each spring, but little is accomplished. I have taken up this challenge by creating a frequently updated on-line blog intended to keep the public informed, despite a barrage of criticism from other board members.”

Peter believes his efforts at communication help counter a disturbing trend towards less of openness and public participation in school board decisions. He gives as an example recent decisions by the board to eliminate all committees that included public members. “I opposed the decision of the board to abolish the committee structures that have served the district for so long. Fourteen people from the community generously volunteered to serve on board committees this year but the board turned them all down, effectively eliminating the opportunity to benefit from their experience and isolating the board’s decision making process from public input. No citizen has been formally involved in any school board decision since last year’s re-organization, a real loss to our district especially considering the relative inexperience of the current board. If re-elected I will work to restore openness and public participation in our decision making process.”

If re-elected Peter also pledges to continue working to build a climate of academic achievement that provides opportunities for all students: “Accountability is key to our future success; we need to complete the transformation to an outcome driven model of operation.”


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Susan Manning is also running for re-election; the new challenger is Jennifer Pickel.  Jennifer is a CG resident who has recently served on the district's ad hoc facilities committee and is president of the Cottage Grove elementary PTO.