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8/13/2010
$10 billion down the drain?
It’s a good read from Sharon Roznik at the Fond du Lac Reporter who digs in to see what that big education stimulus will mean to the schools in her environs. The consensus seems to be whatever part of that $10 billion most schools may get, it probably won’t help much.
Great. Just great.
"I personally think that most, if not all, of the small school districts around the state will not see one penny of this money. It is my understanding that most of the money will be going to the larger school districts, with Milwaukee receiving the lion's share," said Lomira School Superintendent John Mason.
Fond du Lac handled their budget gap themselves – imagine that.
"We reduced very few positions because of savings we received from a health insurance change. If money is distributed based on number of teaching positions lost, we wouldn't receive much. It will all depend on how the Department of Public Instruction plans to distribute the money," she said.
The measure won't save jobs, said Waupun Superintendent Donald Childs.
"We had to give our layoff notices in June, and it's likely to be well into the start of the school year before we know what, if any, impact the funds will have. If we have to promise to hire additional staff in order to get the money, it will do nothing to close our projected deficit; and it will do nothing to ease the local taxpayers' burden," he said.
His hope is that the money will replace reductions in state aid. In Waupun's case, that amounts to more than $882,000.
$10 billion. On the ground. Your taxes and mine. Your kids’ and your grandkids’ debt burden. Just sayin….
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
How much of a school districts budget is mandates? And how much is covered by dollars from the entity that requires it? Any school board members out there who can comment?
dave allen (Fri Aug 13 07:55:29 2010)
Each school district (if one accepts the harmful premise of government schools) must be accountable for its own funding, in entirety. There should be no inter-governmental transfers for government school funding.
If some schools in Milwaukee county spend $20,000 per kid, fine. But let THEM pay for it. Some districts (suburbs) might spend that drunkenly for excellence, but assuredly some (MPS) will spend at that level because of corpulent incompetence. Don't let the consequences of their corruption be diluted to the rest of the state. If a district wastes money, let only that district feel that pain.
Brian Heyer, CPA (Fri Aug 13 07:56:51 2010)
Milwaukee has more than one sinkhole and it's the Milwaukee Public School System. If any private company would pour money year after year into a project and get the results MPS does, the company would be in bankruptcy and the owner would be in jail because no one on earth would believe there wasn't skulduggery involved.
The problem is, when all the rest of the school districts share the wealth, it makes it easier for MPS to go merrily on its way, spending more and more for less and less results.
C. R. Stevenson (Fri Aug 13 09:28:31 2010)
Just wondering Jo, how does that little education stimulus, either used, or not used make it go down the drain?
Ten million ain't much either. It really should be much more to be effective.
Dean Weichmann (Fri Aug 13 09:29:02 2010)
Dean, watch "Stupid in America"--very enlightening, and viewable online.
emily matthews (Fri Aug 13 09:37:30 2010)
I don't have much time - several different ways to look at comparing expenditures. The Total Expenditures I have for '08 '09 budgets are:
State average, 11,734
Madison, 13,430
Milwaukee13,739
Appleton, 11,191
The question isn't "would anyone like to be a teacher in Milwaukee?" The question is how can we best impact students and how can dollars best be spent in all districts in WI. Added federal dollars only stretches out the time when school revenues will fall off a cliff - and in the meantime, critical reforms will not have been made. We learned that with a switch to an insurance supplier other than WEA Trust, Milwaukee could bring back all the teachers it laid off. That seems a much wiser approach than throwing more federal money at the problem.
Char, Brian, you are right on.
Jo (Fri Aug 13 10:17:17 2010)
Did a little research,
"Total education cost per member"
State average, $11,665
Madison, $12,607
Milwaukee, $12,675
Appleton $10,733
Milwaukee is not performing well and cost/m is higher but what is the cost of living there compared to Appleton or Madison? Would you want to be a teacher there?
Dean Weichmann (Fri Aug 13 09:56:54 2010)
***We learned that with a switch to an insurance supplier other than WEA Trust, Milwaukee could bring back all the teachers it laid off.***
Jo, could you show how you learned this? By the way who determines where teachers get their insurance? Is it a vote by union members?
Dean Weichmann (Sat Aug 14 06:40:40 2010)
Oh my Dean, you must read FoxPolitics News more often! Go to any page at FoxPolitics.net and type MPS into the "Search our Site" Box. In the "Out-State" category, among the more current listings you'll see:
Union tactics hurt young teachers
MPS cuts could be averted with health care change
MPS proves potential health benefit savings
Check those out to start. Legislation 2 or 3 years ago (I think) would have exempted the choice of health insurance providers from negotiable items, i.e., it would be under the purview of administration. Doyle wouldn't sign the bill. So the health insurance provider for union members is negotiated., hence the primary reason why WEA Trust is the provider for most school districts in the state - at very high cost. Hence the reason why health insurance premiums in school districts are not competitively bid.
Jo (Sat Aug 14 08:47:50 2010)
Thanks Jo, I will check it out.
I was dating a local teacher and I knew that they had just changed insurance providers and that some of that cost was paid by the teacher. I did not know if Milwaukee was different.
Dean Weichmann (Sun Aug 15 09:20:32 2010)
Jo, I just wet to the Wistax article you suggested;
http://www.wistax.org/focus/2010/2010mketeach482.pdf
and got this;
***Bottom line
In sum, what explains MPS’s budget
problems and resulting layoffs? Key
factors are: (1) marked enrollment drop,
interacting with state revenue cap and
school aid laws; (2) much higher employee
benefits than in other large US
districts; (3) higher payments to retirees
than in other Wisconsin districts; and (4)
high levels of spending on compensation
for noninstructional staff.***
While there is some there about the high benefit package to teachers there is not the evidence there to say that the layoffs would have been prevented by a change in insurance providers. No real figures as to what the cost difference would be. I have not had the time to check other articles yet.
Dean Weichmann (Mon Aug 16 07:07:46 2010)
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