The board approved the charter school planning grant application after a presentation by Nancy Gagnon and some of the other proposers, although many questions remain to be answered during the planning grant period. The charter school proposal as presented calls for up to 180 seats (3 grades of 2 sections of 30 students each), very preliminary budget numbers were about $950K/year in operating costs. The proposal calls for a school that is an "instrumentality" of the district: although it has a separate governance board it would not be a distinct fiscal entity - this is the way our current charter school (MG21) is operated. The school would use a "project based learning" model and feature an environmental and health sciences curriculum. Ann Schroeder raised concerns that there was not sufficient room n Winnequah for 180 Middle School students.
The next step would be to negotiate and agree to a charter in December of next year. IMHO any agreement would have to be budget neutral - the costs of the charter school should not exceed the differential savings of taking those students out of our existing program - anything more would result in fewer resources for students in our existing programs.
The board also approved open enrollments for next year. Out of a total of 206 applicants we accepted 125 based on available space. This includes 55 4K, 20 Kindergarten students at Winnequah, and 30 high school students.
We also got a look at an updated budget forecast: we are anticipating a $3.1M deficit representing a proposed budget reduction of 5.5% per student. The deficit can be offset by projected savings of $1.1M in WRS and Health insurance payments (the pay cut to teachers), $100K revenue from open enrollment, $850K in Federal Jobs Bill revenue, $245K savings from the Maywood/Winnequah consolidation, $340K from staffing maximization (reducing staff and moving them around to match student needs) and $362K in program and services reductions (more on those next time). This leaves us with a projected negative $88K balance on the year, plus whatever is required for remodeling in Winnequah due to the consolidation.
P.S. The H-I website embeds my cell phone video of the 1812 overture played by the combined 4th-12th grade orchestras at the bottom of the front page: http://www.herald-independent.com/, check it out!
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17 comments:
How is "experiential learning" any different than the Expeditionary Learning Outward Board thing that crapped out at Winnequah awhile back? If it's so great, why don't we do it at GD?
I think experiential learning is short for trying to increase local property values with K-12 schooling opportunities in one single community.
If ELOB really increased test scores, one would think the board would support it basiclaly regardless of cost and reduce or cut things to make it work.
Then why don't we do it at GD?
Of course there isn't room for projected enrollment at Winnequah, silly....this means re-opening Maywood.
Peter, you need to be thinking about how to structure a referendum next year. It seems that no is really talking about the likely $3M+ hole for 2012-13 and growing beyond that with the Walker budget. You need to start moving our district citizens minds toward the very real possibility of going to referendum and state what will happen if we do not approve one.
I agree. You need to list out the cuts for next year NOW. Like we will eliminate x, y, and z if this happens. We will have class sizes of 35 in kindergarten and 40 by 8th grade, etc. Get people thinking how necessary it is to pass this thing!
For those calling for referendum prep by the board, it's a good idea, but please understand the position the board (and administration) were put in during the past month or so -- unprecedented cuts in public education, and unprecedented changes in collective bargaining laws (still uncertain) that forced the board and administration to spend a huge amount of time on immediate priorities.
I doubt there's a single member of the board who doesn't seen the potential train wreck coming, as do district administrators. The summer and fall will likely be dominated by this kind of budget-cutting news and the direction of the district if it doesn't seek some kind of referendum.
There is no one, no one, who will vote for a referendum when we all know the charter school is a cover for keeping kids in Monona, backed by the No voters who cannot get over it. The only way a referendum wins is if voters have confidence that their board is making decisions based in sanity.
"There is no one, no one, who will vote for a referendum when we all know the charter school is a cover for keeping kids in Monona, backed by the No voters who cannot get over it. The only way a referendum wins is if voters have confidence that their board is making decisions based in sanity."
like
Monona, USA
Yup. Any referendum will end up being about this charter thing. Shoulda nipped it in the bud.
A referendum will be about preventing terribly large class sizes, teacher and staff layoffs, school activities, sports, music, art, etc.. The stuff that makes a district a great place to go to school.
Dear OMG,
That's what it should be about, but that's not what it will be about if this charter thing is on the table. The board would do well to take every step possible to remove distractions. Learn from the past.
I never thought of the charter school that way...now I will. I am not in favor of the charter school for other reasons but now if it helps defeat a referendum, then it really is not getting my support.
I love the charter school idea. And I also believe the only referendum for the district that has any chance of passing is one that allows MGSD to exceed the budget limit. No way a building referendum has any way to pass for years to come.
The referendum operating money should be used to reopen the existing space we have in the district and shuffle enrollment around to maintain reasonable class room sizes.
Oh, and welcome aboard Dean and good luck. You're going to need it...
"I love the charter school idea."
Would you like it just as much if it had access (within a few blocks) to:
-- State-of-the-art science labs?
-- A community/school garden?
-- Door Creek?
-- The MG school forest?
No place in this school district are class sizes driven by lack of space. That is a ridiculous assertion and I cannot imagine what you are basing that upon. Spreading this sort of mis-information is extremely unhelpful. Plus, the board HAS done a little shifting with CG 2nd grade to deal with space.
Class sizes are driven by the number of teachers we can afford. Period.
And please stop spreading rumors there could be a building referendum. All the referendum talk is about budget money to save our programming. There might be some maintenance needed, but nobody with a drop of common sense right now is talking about building a new school.
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