School Costs
By
Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, ended the practice of having the state provide an average of two-thirds funding for school districts. So now two-thirds is no longer two-thirds putting more of the cost on the local school boards. The district can still raise the budget by 3.0% without a referendum and dump the lack of state help on the taxpayers. Doyle is the patron saint of the teacher’s union and although he didn’t remove the QEO requirement from the labor negotiations, he did remove early retirement (retirement before 65) from the QEO calculation. This is just one more way of dumping on the taxpayer with a ghost increase. Doyle: Don’t blame me–somebody else did it.
And the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union, has been trying to stop the state-imposed spending limits and increase spending for education.
WEAC President Stan Johnson is making a swing of newspaper editorial boards, advocating support for schools and opposition to Republican legislative initiatives to cut spending. He doesn’t have the guts to go to the taxpayers with hat in hand.
We have to take a look at salaries and benefits in the schools. In New Richmond these costs are 70.06% of the budget. Then we have just heard that to overhaul the school facilities will cost $60 million up from $40 million just last week. This overhaul is already in groupthink as described in an early post. Should this happen it will drive up the NR district budget by 20.4% and subsequently school property taxes. My TI business calculator is smoking.
No related posts.
Ziller,
I just returned from sitting in on the Hudson Long Range Facility Task Force meeting. It is their last get together before presenting their final recommendation to the school board. My guess is that this group will be recommending a new, $65 million dollar 9-12 High School plus a new grade school plus various remodeling around the district. Total price will be at least $100 million. If you or anyone you know is even thinking of moving to Hudson, forget it. You’ll be able to afford your house but not the taxes.
There is a solution to all of this and I think everyone knows what my core belief is on this matter. But, I just walked across the street from my neighbor’s house (two canadians). They were watching my daughter while I attended the aforementioned meeting. I explained where the task force was headed. Then I laid out my ideas – my ideas of a partnership between the government and the private sector won hands down.
It is high time citizens stood up and demanded tax credits for educational choices because it will provide the underlying incentives for the private sector to provide what the public sector simply is incapable of producing – cost effective delivery of education.