Winnequah 10K...

A special thanks to the Meriter Foundation whose $5000 Donation, along with $2500 from the Monona PTO and a $2500 capstone donation from an anonymous donor, has helped the Winnequah endowment fund reach its initial goal of $10,000 with the Monona Grove Education Foundation.

The MGEF has set up an endowment fund for each of the schools in the district with an initial goal of $10,000.  When this amount is raised the funds will be administered by the Madison Community Foundation.  A $2500 "capstone grant" from an anonymous donor will be contributed to each fund when it reaches $7500 to put it over the top.

Winnequah school is the first to reach the $10K goal.  You can find the MGEF on facebook or the MG website  to contribute!

Whither Madison Prep...

The proposed Madison Prep Charter School was voted down by the Madison school board on Monday.   A bold proposal to address the achievement gap in Madison, Madison Prep supporters have a very good point- the status quo is not working for minority students.

There wasn't any magic to the Madison Prep proposal:  longer school year, extended school days, smaller class ratios, additional support services, we know these things work, and taken together these things would likely make a significant impact on student achievement.  But all these things cost significant amounts of money which is ultimately the problem.  What distribution of resources is the most effective and fair?

Personally I would like to see Madison Prep with a contract to operate for a fixed period of time of 3 to 5 years,  with an evaluation against pre-defined goals at the end of that time.  A cost-benefit evaluation could then be made of whether or not Madison wanted to raise the resources to extend the model across the board, or drop it in favor of another model.

Last meeting of the year...

Is tomorrow evening in the High School IMC. You can find the agenda here. Items of Note:

I. Unfinished Business
1. Report on Monona Grove Education Foundation Endowment Funds

Last year the Monona Grove Education Foundation inaugurated endowment funds for each of our schools, with the goal of reaching a $10,000 initial investment in each fund. A capstone grant is available for the last $2500. The MGEF will provide the board with an update of the fundraising.

2. Discussion and Possible Approval of MGHS Parking Lot Concepts

Hopefully we will give approval to the modifications to the parking and entrance to the lot on the South Side of the High School

4. Discussion and Possible Approval of the Budget Process and Budget Calendar

The proposed calendar for finding $1.2M in savings next year can be found here.

J. New Business
1. Discussion and Possible Approval of Superintendent's Contract
2. Discussion and Possible Approval District Administrators' Contracts

Good news and bad news...

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?  OK, I’ll start with the good news: according to the PMA budget projections the district is “only” facing cuts of $1.2 Million for next school year.  How is that “good”? – It’s about ½ what we were anticipating.  Still brutal, but not as bad as I thought.  $1.2M is about 3.5% of our total operating fund, about the cost of 21 teachers.

So if that’s the good news what’s the bad news?  In 2014 the deficit is additional $875K, in 2015 an additional $540K, in 2016 another $500K, in 2017 another $500K – through 2017 the cumulative total deficit $12.5 million dollars vs. our current cost to continue.  Each year our capacity to provide a quality education is reduced an incremental amount, and the deeply corrosive effects of Wisconsin’s school funding system continue to degrade our children’s future.   And don’t think for a minute that this is, in the long run, saving you money.

I hear people talk of a referendum to balance the budget?  To do so would require a referendum that starts at $1.5M and grows by at least $650K each subsequent year.  (For every dollar we raise in an operating referendum the state reduces our aid by 30 cents, so we would have to compensate)   If you can tell me how to structure an acceptable referendum that meets these conditions, I’m all ears.  Of course then we have the funding cliff at the end to deal with.

Eventually we will need additional revenue sources to adequately fund our schools. Perhaps we can expand on Newt Gingrich’s repugnant idea and hire out low income students to clean other people’s buildings as well as our own.  (Please note the sarcasm in that last comment!)

Moving into the 21st century...

Effective with the Nov. 22 meeting the board is away from paper copies of board agendas and documents to the  web based  "Board Docs" system.  Board Docs provides tiered access over the web to documents for the board, administrators and the public.  The public portal can be found here:  http://www.boarddocs.com/wi/mgsd/Board.nsf/Public.  A list of meeting agendas is found in the column on the right hand side of the screen, click through to see the item as well as additional information and attachments.
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The next board meeting (and first electronic one) will be on Tuesday the 22nd.  Items of note:

J. Unfinished Business
1. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposals for Physics and Honors Physics
2. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for Introduction to College Writing
3. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for AP Music Theory  . 4. Discussion and Possible Approval of High School Course Proposal for After School At-Risk Program

The board will be considering three new courses at the high school.  The Physics/Honors Physics class is a continuation of the Biology/Chemistry track for freshman and sophomores recently instituted.  The college writing course is for students who need to improve their writing skills to the college level, the course is aligned with a Madison College writing course and college credit is available upon successful completion.  The AP Music Theory course will be the only non-performance music course offered at the high school and is intended for students interested in a career in music or strongly interested in composition.   The After School At Risk proposal is for a program to provide additional instruction and mentoring for students in need.   This will be funded from dedicated Title 1 monies, not general funds.

5. Discussion and Possible Approval of MGHS Parking Lot Concepts  

The board will consider options for realignment of the driveway to the staff parking lot onto Monona Drive as part of the Monona Drive reconstruction project.

7. Discussion and Possible Approval of Concealed Carry Signage

Wait, what?  Under WI new concealed carry law the carrying of weapons in schools and on school grounds is still illegal, and constitutes a felony.  However those with CC permits may now carry a weapon up to the edge of the school property, where previously weapons were prohibited within 1000 ft of a school.  In addition weapons are now allowed in vehicles on school property provided they are unloaded and locked up.  The board will consider signage on school buildings to provide a reminder of the prohibition of weapons.

9. Budget Reduction Discussion

Sigh.  A proposed outline for this year's process can be found here.  A draft timeline here.

Meanwhile in the IMC...

State Superintendent of school Tony Evers held a press conference in the the MG High School IMC this morning to announce the results of the DPI's annual survey of Wisconsin School districts.  Craig, Sue Fox, Susan Howe and an Administrator, parent and student from across the state participated in the press conference  This year the survey highlights the impact of reductions to school budget across the state.  An interactive map of the results can be found here.

Most districts have reduced staff and/or increased class size and reduced programs. Although the complicated state funding formula means that the impact is different in each district, in general the savings from compensation reductions mandated by Act 10 do not fully offset  the reduction in funds.  In MG the budget deficit exceeded the savings by more 2.5x, resulting in various cuts.  2/3rds of school districts report they are expecting to make even deeper cuts next year.

I'll say it again: what concerns me most is the cumulative corrosive effect of the loss of time, resources and energy spent on the annual budget scramble that should be deployed in the quest for school improvement.  

Upcoming issues:

Wednesday's meeting is a "Committee of the Whole" - we will discuss but not act on any items.  Here are some significant ones:

E.  Discussion Items/Policy Review
1. Presentation of the Parking Lot Concepts for Monona Grove High School and Access Changes to
 Monona Drive – Tom Lynch, Strand Associates      

As the reconstruction for Monona drive goes past the high school the entrance to the parking lot on the south side of the building needs to be relocated to make room for a protected left turn feature in the center of the road.  The board is considering some of the options, which include moving the drive north so that it is opposite Lofty Ave, or moving it south so it is midway between Lofty and Springhaven.  This second option would likely result in the removal of some of the trees in the corner of the lot.  In either case we would need to reconfigure the parking, but it is possible to add several spaces.

3. Update on Employee Handbook  Process       (10 Min)

Our current contracts with employees will expire in July of 2012.  By that time the district has to have a "handbook" in place that replaces the current contract and codifies in policy the relationship between the school district and its employees.  I view this document as the most important project before the board as it will impact all aspects of operations for the foreseeable future.

7. High School Course Proposals: Paul Brost and High School Teachers
  Physics, Honors Physics , Introduction to College Writing , AP Music Theory, and After
  School At-Risk Program       (30 Min) 

Paul Brost and the High School staff will be presenting information on these proposed classes.

Looking for something to do this afternoon?

Playtime Productions Children's Theater starts their fall tour of http://www.playtimeproductions.org/schedule.htm this afternoon at 2pm in the Monona Library auditorium.  Other nearby shows on the schedule include the MG High School Auditorium Friday, Nov.11th at 7pm and the Barrymore Theatre Sunday, Nov. 20th at 6pm. 

Founded by Monona's Teddy Studt, Playtime Productions has been providing great children's entertainment as well as terrific opportunities for young performer for 32 years!

Here we go again...

This year's budget reduction process (for the 2012-13 school year) starts now. The familiar and seemingly endless cycle of budget reductions will start again this month as the board will consider the Superintendent's recommended process timeline.  We must be prepared to act by the Feb. 22 board meeting.

How big a deficit do we expect for next year?  We are estimating about $2 million.  Although this is a bit less than last year's, the last time around there were some easy savings: we took a million out of staff compensation and spent $800K from stimulus funds.  So if your kid isn't in high school Calculus or one of the other classes with increased size, or a patron of some of the other services we trimmed, you might not have noticed much difference

But this year there isn't any more low hanging fruit, and it doesn't look like there will be any more help from Washington.   That means the majority of the cuts are going to be noticeable reductions in services- and some of this will inevitably come out of the classroom, as that is where the great majority of money is spent.  $2 million represents the compensation of more than 30 teachers.

http://www.herald-independent.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=21&ArticleID=2949