The school district of South Milwaukee has released their proposed 2011-2012 budget, and it’s not pretty. Based on Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed cuts to state aid to local school districts, as well as a reduction in the per-student revenue cap, the South Milwaukee School District will lose just over $1.8 million in state funding; however due to projected teacher and staff retirements the district’s structural budget deficit would shrink to “just” $1.4 million.
Here’s some highlights of the cuts being proposed by the South Milwaukee school board:
- Close the district’s pool, saving $150,000
- Eliminate 1.5 Music Positions at the Middle/High School, saving $129,000
- Eliminate 1.0 Instrumental Music Position, saving $120,000. This would completely eliminate the 5th grade through 12th grade orchestra program.
- Eliminate 1.0 High School Technology Education Position, saving $115,000
- Eliminate 1.0 High School Business Education Position, saving $103,000
- Eliminate 1.0 Elementary Teacher Position, saving $72,500
- Eliminate .50 Technology Integration Position, saving $30,000
- Eliminate High School Attendance Secretary Position, saving $34,000
- Eliminate Part-Time Instructional Secretary Position, saving $19,000
- Reduce Police Liaison Services, saving $25,000. This would result in the elimination of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program.
- Increases athletic fees by $25 per sport, raising the fee to $100 per student, per sport.
Curiously, I couldn’t find any cuts to administrative staff or their salaries, but given the South Milwaukee school board’s past propensity for making cuts from the bottom up (rather than from the top down), I shouldn’t be surprised that once again teachers are squarely in the school board’s crosshairs.
South Milwaukee alderman Erik Brooks has his own take on this.
As a graduate, parent, former board member and lifelong advocate for smsd, I am so sad to see these cuts. SM has/had!? A premier music program. The pool is a community builder. Sports keep students in school! Cuts to tech ed or business? Really? And the worst thing of all…… Jeff Plale. I will keep on in Madison working to kill the bill. I am so sorry for these losses
All seem very reasonable. Especially the athletic fees. Pay to play is the way sports should be.
Not reasonable at all, am a lib. there are other places to make cuts that wouldn’t hurt education, students or teachers. very child has a right to play sports. what about those that fall into the poverty level? all public education sports should be free. cut ear mark spending, defense, politicians pay. lots of places to go for money but the working class. corporations, wall street, banks. plenty of places.
Seems to me, the bulk of your gripe is against the school board, more so than the state.
Actually MPS is hurt proportionally less than most districts since it gets a greater percentage of it’s funding from the federal government than any other district.
For some reason, the $4000-6000 more they spend per student than my kids’ school doesn’t seem to helping much. Maybe, just maybe, it’s about more than money.
Just to be clear, we’re not talking about MPS here; we’re talking about the South Milwaukee School District.
As to your point about where my “gripe” is directed, I’ll just note that while the board proposed the cuts, they were put in the position of having to make such drastic cuts because of the cuts in state aid to the district.
My apologies for confusing the districts.
You’re halfway there, now finish it up. I have no gripe at all with the state spending cuts. I’d prefer the state pull back heavily on it’s funding. I trust my local district with a district administrator (who is simply exceptional at her job) and school board infinitely more than I trust the state legislature. I can pick up my phone and call them, or bend their ear at a community event. What I mean by take the next step – what isn’t right is to make the state cuts but then not provide local distracts any additional flexibility on the revenue caps. That ain’t right.
For most people (obviously not all), it matters not whether the tax burden of public education comes from state income taxes or property taxes – money is money. So I say, the more local, the more accountability and the more control I and the rest of my community have over our schools.
I do understand that some degree of state assistance is required – in particular to help the poorer districts and also because ed funding is part of the State Constitution. But I also moved to a town in part because the operating costs are much lower and we choose to have less services (and bureaucracy and expense) so there’s more room for tax revenues to go to our schools.
Scott Walker is attempting his further underground conspiracy to move the state back to the 50’s. In addition, to his re-introduction of Brylcreem, he now encourages schools to drop music so we can all re-acquaint ourselves with the lively tempos of Fred Waring and the Philadelphians.
Someone must have gotten to him…read his update to this post on his blog.
> Seems to me, the bulk of your gripe is against the school board, more so than the state.
But it’s Walker’s huge proposed cuts in state support for local school districts that is forcing the school board to consider its own huge cuts in turn.
> Actually MPS is hurt proportionally less than most districts since it gets a greater percentage of it’s funding from the federal government than any other district.
That’s one way to look at it. Here’s another: MPS is already expecting almost $100 million less in federal aid and other grants, largely because of the end of two years of federal economic stimulus funding. And district leaders have been told that Walker was considering refusal of federal Title 1 aid for low-income students, which brings tens of millions of dollars of additional aid each year. Meanwhile, Walker will jack up school voucher limits, all of which come out of the MPS pocket with no state offset.
More from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel piece:
> [B]oard President Michael Bonds said MPS could face huge cuts in programs and the loss of a quarter of its current revenue if things officials are being told about Walker’s budget proposals are true and if they are adopted.
> “I would use the word devastating,” Bonds told an angry crowd of about 200 … . “It’s devastating to school districts across the state,” and MPS will feel the impact more than other districts… . When you’re talking about losing close to $300 million, everything is on the table.”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116339939.html
Here’s a common sense solution to our budget ills.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/07-9
We can call it ” Badger Bank “.