In this week's Herald-Independent Tom Reason delivers kudos to the school board for the decreased mill rate taxpayers we'll see in next year's bills. But no thanks are necessary, really - because it's not up to us! The tax levy and mill rate are essentially determined by the state funding formula.
This is how it works: the state has a complicated formula based on enrollment and previous funding which dictates the "revenue cap": the maximum revenue each district can raise. The state then tells the district how much of that revenue the state will provide. The difference between that state aid and the revenue cap then can be levied on local property. The mill rate ends up being the amount the district can levy divided by the total value of property in the district. (If property value goes up the mill rate will go down and vice-versa, because the total amount is fixed.)
So the slightly smaller levy this year is a natural consequence of the state budget which cut $650 per pupil from the magic funding formula for the revenue cap, nothing we on the board did.
Of course the school district could choose not levy to the revenue limit, but even after the million dollar reductions to compensation related to the "budget repair bill" the district was still more than $1.5 million in the hole. The deficit was made up by using all our federal stimulus funds and more than $900K in cuts.
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Speaking of budget cuts - the administration reported that there are 29 class sections in the high and middle schools that exceed class size guideline of 30 students. Last year that number was 4.
We can argue about how to best manage the situation, but the big picture is that we can't cut the budget a million at a whack without reducing services to students.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
MG retirement in the news
The Christian Science Monitor reports on the wave of teacher retirements in the Wisconsin with coverage of the MG district and an interview with retiring history teacher Tom Howe. MG has seen 17 teachers retire this year, considerably more than average.
I do think the article falls short on a couple of points:
1) It fails to explain why many teachers are retiring this year: Teachers eligible for retirement are doing so for guaranteed access to retirement benefits that are part of existing contracts, these benefits will be at the sole discretion of school boards in the future.
2) The recent changes to WI law will result over the next several years in less turnover of senior teachers, not more, even including the increased retirements this year. The reduced pay and retirement packages will have teachers working longer before retiring. This will result in actually slowing the "changing of the guard" that the article identifies as a silver lining.
3) I think the idea that replacing senior teachers with new teachers might improve student outcomes is speculative and unproven. While it may be true that younger teachers have attitudes more aligned with current school reform efforts, this isn't necessarily better than experience. In fact we know there is a positive correlation between the level of teacher experience and student achievement.
It should be noted that early retirement benefits were initially introduced to save districts money by encouraging senior teachers at the top of the pay scale to retire. The explosive growth of health care costs, the major early retirement benefit, has significantly changed this equation, although I estimate we still at least break even.
I do think the article falls short on a couple of points:
1) It fails to explain why many teachers are retiring this year: Teachers eligible for retirement are doing so for guaranteed access to retirement benefits that are part of existing contracts, these benefits will be at the sole discretion of school boards in the future.
2) The recent changes to WI law will result over the next several years in less turnover of senior teachers, not more, even including the increased retirements this year. The reduced pay and retirement packages will have teachers working longer before retiring. This will result in actually slowing the "changing of the guard" that the article identifies as a silver lining.
3) I think the idea that replacing senior teachers with new teachers might improve student outcomes is speculative and unproven. While it may be true that younger teachers have attitudes more aligned with current school reform efforts, this isn't necessarily better than experience. In fact we know there is a positive correlation between the level of teacher experience and student achievement.
It should be noted that early retirement benefits were initially introduced to save districts money by encouraging senior teachers at the top of the pay scale to retire. The explosive growth of health care costs, the major early retirement benefit, has significantly changed this equation, although I estimate we still at least break even.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Budget time again
At Wednesday’s (9/14) meeting the Board reviewed the 2011-12 budget that will be presented for approval at the District's Annual Meeting (Oct. 5th). Although the numbers aren’t final until the September enrollment counts and the certification of state aid in October, the estimated general fund expenditures for the year will be $33,753,104. Due to factors including a $650 reduction in the per pupil revenue limit and a $1.4M reduction in state aids, the budget started with a deficit of approximately $2.75M (about 8%) relative to "cost to continue".
The operating fund deficit was closed in three ways:
1)About $900K in cuts that were approved by the board last spring, these include the consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah Elementary schools as well as staff reductions: your student may have noticed larger class sizes, particularly in the high school.
2) Use of $850K in federal ARRA (stimulus bill) funds. The $850K is equal to the cost of about 15 teachers that the district can continue to employ. The ARRA funds have to be used this year and next, we chose to use the entire amount this year.
3) Just over $1M reduction in compensation for the teachers and staff. A teacher will see a reduction in take home pay equal to 12.8% of the health care costs plus half the WRS pension contribution.
Total local property tax collections for general fund revenues are limited by the revenue cap and should be down slightly, but less than 2%.
The operating fund deficit was closed in three ways:
1)About $900K in cuts that were approved by the board last spring, these include the consolidation of Maywood and Winnequah Elementary schools as well as staff reductions: your student may have noticed larger class sizes, particularly in the high school.
2) Use of $850K in federal ARRA (stimulus bill) funds. The $850K is equal to the cost of about 15 teachers that the district can continue to employ. The ARRA funds have to be used this year and next, we chose to use the entire amount this year.
3) Just over $1M reduction in compensation for the teachers and staff. A teacher will see a reduction in take home pay equal to 12.8% of the health care costs plus half the WRS pension contribution.
Total local property tax collections for general fund revenues are limited by the revenue cap and should be down slightly, but less than 2%.
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