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Oling, Lane -GOV
From:
Sent:
To:
Brickman, Michael -DOAWednesday, April
20,
2011
4:53
PM
Colvin, Alan R -
GOV
Cc:
Liedl, Kimberly -
GOV
Subject:
FW:
Effect
of
the State Budget on Wausaukee
Importance:
Done.
Michael Brickman
Education Policy Assistant
High
Office
of Scott WalkerMichaei.Brickman@wisconsin.gov
From:
Liedl, Kimberly -
GOV
Sent:
Wednesday, April 20,
201112:50
PM
To:
Brickman, Michael -
DOA
Subject:
FW:
Effect
of
the State Budget
on
Wausaukee
Importance:
HighPlease call or email this guy and then let
AI
know.Kimber
From:
Moore, Dorothy
J -
GOV
Sent:
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 5:06
PM
To:
'Dave Kipp'
Cc:
Colvin, Alan
R-
GOV;
Liedl,
Kimberly-
GOV
Subject:
RE:
Effect
of
the State Budget on WausaukeeGood Afternoon Mr. Kipp:Thank you for your email and for taking
my
call. It was a pleasure speaking to you. As I explained
on
the phone I amccing Alan Colvin, Constituents Director and Kimber Liedl, Policy Advisor for Education. Kimber will be able to addressyour concerns on Education with the Governor's Budget.Thank you again for your patience and understanding. You have been very kind. Have a good evening.Dorothy
Dorothy
J.
MooreExecutive
Assistant
to Governor Scott Walker115 East
State
CapitolMadison, WI 53702608.266.8050dorothv.moore@wisconsin.gov
From:
DaveKipp~]
Sent:
Tuesday,
A~
o:
Governor Scott Walker
1
 
Cc: Moore,
Dorothy J -
GOV;
Rep.Mursau
-
LEGIS;Jim
Halperin
Subject:
Effect
of
the State Budget
on
Wausaukee
On
March
26, 2011
I
sentthe
following
email
and
as
yet I
have
not
received any
response.
I
know
that
you
are
very
busy
but the
issues
involved
may
result
in
trashing
nearly
four
years
of
cost
cutting
and
innovation at our
school
district.
We
have
literally rebuilt
the
Wausaukee
School
District
from
the
ashes
of
financial disaster
and
are
committed
to
holding
the
line
on
property
tax
increases.
Won't
you
please
address
the
issues
we raised?
Governor Walker,Let me begin
by
saying
that
I have
been
a supporter
of
your budget plans especially the repair billwhich demands contributions from teachers toward health insurance and pension benefits. I havelong held the same views. The most important aspect
of
your program is the
effort
to end collectivebargaining
for
most public employees,
not
because there will
be
immediate financial savings to
my
school district,
but
because over time school boards will be in a position to change health careinsurance, establish school calendars, reward excellent teachers, encourage deficient teachers to
.
improve, provide additional training to improve teachers, control ever expanding unfunded liabilitiessuch as
OPEB,
and be innovative
in
approaches to improve overall delivery
of
public school educationto
our
kids. All this
without
the current constraints
of
a collective bargaining agreement which makethese things almost impossible to accomplish.First I would like to review a short history
of
the School District
of
Wausaukee.
At
the end
of
the2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years
our
general fund balance was negative, the only district
in
the state to be in
that
position.
In
February and again in June 2008, referendums to exceed
our
revenue cap failed. During negotiations with
our
teachers for the 2007-2009 contract,
our
teachersagreed to a salary freeze
in
addition to paying
10%
of
their health care insurance premiums (20% forthose hired
after
June 30,2008). Because
of
the failed referendums the School Board voted in Juneand July
of
2008 to dissolve the district.
In
August
of
2008, a third attempt
at
referendum wassuccessful (non-recurring
for
$675,000
per
year
for
ten years), which raised local property taxes as aresult. The success
of
the third referendum was based on widespread community support to keep ourschool open with the result that a Boundary Appeals Board denied the dissolution in November
of
2008.
The
referendum was designed to only affect local taxpayers
for
only a three year period, since thedebt
for
our
new
school, opened in 1993, with an annual debt payment approximately equal to thereferendum amount, will be retired
in
April 2011 and therefore drop
off
the local school tax levy.Since 2008, the district has reduced staff, mainly though retirement attrition, and
cut
other costswhere possible, while attempting to continue to deliver a quality education to our kids.
We
havemany excellent teachers
at
Wausaukee, demonstrated in
part
by becoming a "Blue Ribbon School" in2009 and also winning other academic awards. Most recently
we
came in first in the HiQ competitionin our area, competing against some much larger districts, and will be entering a national HiQ contestshortly.
We
initiated welding and automotive programs through Youth Options
in
collaboration with
NWTC
and two neighboring districts in 2010, and recently began a practical nursing program with thesame collaborative partners.Simply put, we have
cut
programs and costs to the bone, been innovative in expanding
our
courseofferings
at
the lowest possible cost, while preserving what we consider all the essentials fordelivering quality education to
our
students.
We
as a Board
of
Education and Administration havebeen committed to continue delivering
that
quality education
at
the lowest possible cost and have
2
 
already
put
in place the steps to reduce school property taxes
by
about $1.00
per
thousand
on
thelevy rate this December. As I explained in
my
email yesterday, your budget repair will require
us
toreduce the coming tax levy rate
by
another $1.00
per
thousand due to the
per
pupil revenue limitreductions in your plan.
We
have up until now been totally committed to
not
raising
our
localproperty taxes until
at
least the end
of
our non-recurring referendum in 2019. Our district is 80%funded
by
our
local taxpayers because
of
the state funding formula which considers
us
to be a "richdistrict". This year about
56%
of
our
pupils qualify for free
or
reduced lunches
so
most
of
our citizensare hardly"rich".As
it
stands currently,
our
budget forecasts, which
we
extend into the future, show deficit spendingeach year going forward, and eating up
our
general fund balance entirely by the end
of
the 2013-2014 school year, under your planned cuts. Your stated goal
of
holding the line on tax increases
is
one
that
we
are completely in agreement with, all
we
ask
is
that
we
be given the opportunity to holdthe line
or
reduce
our
property tax burden without being forced to go broke again.
At
the presenttime
our
forecasts predict exactly that,
but
of
course all the pieces to
our
financial puzzle are
not
in
place because
of
the unknowns in the implementation
of
the budget repair timing and theramifications
of
the biennial budget itself.
We
ask that you please consider the following
so
that
our excellent little school district can survive:#1. Grant an exemption from the revenue limit
per
pupil reduction to school districts thatguarantee
not
to raise their levy rate.
#2.
Revisit the school funding formula so that
it
is more equitable
for
small rural districtswith declining enrollment.#3. Revise and reissue the spreadsheet sent
out
under your cover letter
of
March 16,2011 which contains inaccuracies pertaining to the balance
of
supposed savings
for
additionalemployee contributions versus the impact
of
reduced revenues.#4.
Do
not
encourage districts to extend contracts, even
if
there seem to be immediatesavings, since the longer term effect will be to extend collective bargaining
at
the expense
of
gainingtruly significant long term cost efficiences
in
managing school districts.Very Sincerely,
3
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