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Click Here For Equity News Archives Email bhaig@execpc.com to receive every new issue. In this issue:
Encourage State Officials to Examine Equity Concerns As school begins this fall, the turning leaves may provide a beautiful backdrop for returning students, but behind the scenes in Madison, it's not a pleasant sight:
But we are making headway. Legislators are beginning to recognize and accept that:
This will occur as others are preparing for further litigation to more precisely define the state standard. School finance is on the front burner, and I would urge each of you to discuss the specific elements of our "new standard" with your own legislators and all candidates for state office. In addition, as you meet with your CESAs, encourage them to put Equity on the table. Your AEF Steering Committee members or Executive Director Doug Haselow would be happy to discuss the issues with district administrators and board members. Just give them a call. Gubernatorial Candidates Call for School Finance Reform Our survey of Wisconsin Gubernatorial candidates indicates a strong interest in school finance issues and points to changes in the system in the next four years. AEF based the five survey questions on the Vincent vs. Voigt decision, the 2000 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that set a new educational standard for Wisconsin -- "Wisconsin students have a fundamental right to an equal opportunity for a sound basic education. An equal opportunity for a sound basic education is one that will equip students for their roles as citizens and enable them to succeed economically and personally." The Gov. Scott McCallum Campaign did not respond to the questionnaire because, according to a campaign spokesperson, AEF did not offer the opportunity for an endorsement -- criteria that the campaign set when considering surveys (AEF is a non-partisan organization). "We believe it's (school funding) an issue and will continue to be an issue throughout the campaign," said the spokesperson. The Ed Thompson Campaign did not respond to the survey. The three candidates who did respond agreed on the need for reform. "The system of financing public schools in Wisconsin needs to be dramatically changed," said Attorney General James Doyle in his response. "To achieve equity, we need to reform the funding formula as a whole; but we also need to make sure our public schools have the funding they need to provide these opportunities," according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. "I support a complete review of school funding adequacy and fairness," responded U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett. When asked how the governor can assure this equal educational opportunity is provided to all children regardless of where they live, the responses varied.
The candidates also addressed questions about funding students with additional educational needs (which the Wisconsin Supreme Court requires be taken into account) and addressing the wide variation in school property tax rates. State voters need to understand how each potential governor will handle the school funding system. All of the candidates who responded agree that the system is in disrepair and must be dealt with in the next four years, although they have different ways of solving the problem. We developed a news release (on the AEF website) about the survey and sent it to newspapers statewide. Make sure you send copies of the article -- or the complete survey -- to your local elected officials and call to discuss it with them. Throughout the gubernatorial campaign and the individual races for state legislators, AEF will continue to highlight the need for school finance reform to develop a system that is fair for all students and all taxpayers. The AEF legislative proposal addresses the issues raised by our state educational standard, and the state as a whole will benefit from its enactment.
Click here to read AEF's news release and view the complete survey Special Ed Costs Highlight Need for Equity As in most districts in Wisconsin, the Mishicot School District works to provide a quality education for all of our students. We pride ourselves in our fine programs, and parents are pleased with what we offer. But as expenditures rise higher than revenue to support Special Education programs, our district is struggling to find funds for all programs. Mishicot already is one of the lowest cost-per-pupil districts in the state, so the ever-increasing Special Education costs, without additional revenues, is putting pressure on other student programs. We find ourselves making very difficult decisions between serving these children who need our help and providing high-quality education programs for the rest of our students. Special Education costs continue to take a greater portion of the combined fund 10 and 27 dollars. For our district, the Special Education amount of our total budget has risen from 11.5% in 00-01 to 12.7% in 01-02 and is projected to be 13.3% in 02-03. In total dollars, our Special Education budget has increased from $959,346 in 00-01 to $1,179,180 in 01-02 and projected to be $1,304,425 in 02-03. This is an increase in spending of 36% in just three fiscal years. Our students in need of Special Education services have risen, but not as dramatically as the budget may suggest. (From 00-01 to 02-03, the number of Mishicot students who need Special Education services will rise by 8.7%). Much of our additional expenditures is going to students who need individual adult supervision or are low incident enough that our district uses 66.30 agreements to meet their needs. Our district will increase the amount we are reimbursing the Two Rivers School District by $40,000 for the 2002-03 school year for treating students in our district with hearing impairments. Another concern is that even though enrollment is decreasing, students with Speech and Language needs and Early Childhood students continue to increase. We are adding a half-time Early Childhood teacher for the upcoming school year. In addition, our 2.5 FTE Speech teachers are well above the state recommended caseload with no relief in site. Why these students are coming to school with so many needs is a complex problem. And as we all know, the State and federal reimbursement rates have not kept pace with the cost of these students. State aid for special education continues to slip away as the separate appropriation for categorical aid was not increased again this year. If this continues, more and more resources will be directed from regular education students. I was pleased to note in the AEF survey that the three gubernatorial candidates share this concern about funding:
It's unfortunate that it takes a crisis to bring these problems to the attention of public officials, but no matter who is elected, AEF will work with the executive office and legislators to help bring some fiscal equity that will support all students of the State of Wisconsin. New Member: Winneconne Sends Message to Madison The Winneconne School Board wants a strong voice in Madison, and that's why they joined AEF. District Administrator Bob Reinke says it takes a focused educational campaign to inform voters about the need to increase revenue. Reinke says the Winneconne community has two important needs:
"In looking at the various organizations that are out there working on changing how schools are financed, the Association for Equity in Funding seemed to fit best with our values," Reinke says. Some 1,600 students attend Winneconne schools, so Reinke says it was important to join with other AEF districts. "As a small district, we needed to join together with others to have a voice. To be politically effective you need a strong voice in Madison to effect change," Reinke says. Winneconne is located in CESA 6, which plans to include a discussion on equity in funding in its fall meetings. |
